Homicidal Urges
by Citizen Cobalt 1
Summary: Kurama wanted a more lively school year. He got it in the form of an evil little freshman called Hiei. Yaoi. KH, YuOC. KuwYukina
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or any of the anime characters that may appear in it. I do own Shio and he is my character. AU. Kurama's name is Shuuichi but Yuusuke and Kuwabara call him Kurama. I hope I'm finally getting back up to updating. Since my account was deleted I've lost all my motivation. I'd like to thank everyone who's been so patient with me and I will try to get the rest of ATTW back up. This is yaoi, so you have been warned.

Place where the little stars go

It was going to be a bad day. Kurama could feel it in his gut. Maybe it was the little dark cloud on the horizon or maybe it was the fact that his lunch had gone missing. Probably Yuusuke's fault since he never brought his own food. Or it could be the large group of girls eyeing him from behind a tree about twenty feet away. Kurama frowned. Didn't they know he could see them? He sighed. Yeah, that was probably it. Maybe.

"Yo! Kurama!" Yuusuke came sprinting across the lawn followed closely by an orange-haired boy.

"Whatcha doing out here!" Yuusuke yelled enthusiastically, causing Kurama to wince. He threw his arm around the redhead's shoulders and pulled him to his feet.

"It's a new year! A whole new batch of girls to check out before I skip the next seven months!"

"Don't even think about it Urameshi!" Kuwabara grabbed Yuusuke in a headlock, "You've got Keiko!"

"Lay off!" Yuusuke rammed his elbow into Kuwabara's stomach and the two fell into yet another brawl. Kurama sighed again. Why did he hang around those two? _Perhaps I should use this opportunity to escape._ Kurama quietly walked away from the two delinquents and entered the air-conditioned building. _Another school year. Another year of avoiding crazy blood-thirsty girls and getting the perfect grades I'm known for. How boring. Something needs to liven up._

"Watch where the fuck you're going you asshole!" Kurama snapped out of his contemplation and stared in surprise at the dark haired boy sprawled out on the floor in front of him. Bright red eyes set in a pale face glared up at him through thick black bangs.

"Excuse me?" The boy began to roughly gather up the books and papers scattered across the floor.

"Here, let me help." Kurama bent down and began picking up assorted items.

"Fuck off." The boy grabbed his stuff from Kurama's arms and stood. Kurama stood as well and couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's height.

"What the fuck are you laughing at!"

"I simply thought that with your attitude you'd be much taller."

"And I thought with yours you'd be a little more masculine, but I guess we've both been wrong today." The boy pushed roughly past Kurama and stalked down the hallway and around the corner. A few seconds later he came back around the corner swearing profusely.

"You lost?" Kurama asked, finding an odd amusement at the boy's angry expression.

"No." Kurama began walking with him, peering over his shoulder at the number on the paper in his hand.

"You're in the wrong part of the building for Chemistry."

"Why the fuck are you following me!"

"Such language! I merely thought that since I knocked you down I should at least help you out."

"You can help me by going away!" Kurama let out another small chuckle. He liked this boy.

"I'm Minamino Shuuichi.1 What's your name?" When the boy didn't answer Kurama reached over and snatched the schedule out of his hands.

"Jaganashi Hiei? Nice to meet you." Kurama handed the schedule back to Hiei, who stuffed it into his pocket.

"So you're new here? A freshmen?" Kurama didn't wait for an answer and continued on, "I'm a Junior, call me Kurama. What class do you have next? I'll help you find it."

"Kurama? Who're you talking to?" Yuusuke walked up to him, staring in confusion at his red-haired friend.

"I'm talking to Hiei." Kurama looked around for him, but the hallway was empty save him and Yuusuke. Hiei was nowhere to be found.

"That little bastard." Kurama growled, still searching in vain for the smaller boy. _No one runs out on me! I'll show him who's lord and master around here!_ Yuusuke shifted nervously as an evil look appeared on Kurama's normally friendly face. That could only mean trouble. He sighed. Probably a lot for him, too.

Place where the little stars go

"Everyone turn to page 354. We'll be working on mixing chemicals A and B and I'll expect you all to be able to identify both and to tell me what happens when the two are mixed. But first I want you all to turn to the person on your left and…..May I help you?" Kurama looked up when Mrs. Hearst stopped speaking. _Speak of the devil._ Hiei stood in the doorway of the classroom, still looking as annoyed as ever.

"I'm looking for room 532, Chemistry I?"

"This is it. Class, this is Jaganashi Hiei, new student. Mr. Jaganashi, if you could take a seat next to Mr. Minamino he'll fill you in on what we're doing." Kurama raised his hand, smirking when Hiei's annoyed expression turned semi-murderous.

"As I was saying," Mrs. Hearst cleared her throat, "Turn to the person on your left and say hello to your permanent lab partner."

Hiei froze, having just sat down on the stool to Kurama's left. Kurama turned and smiled at him.

"Hello."

Place where the little stars go

"And then he poured acid onto my pants!" Kurama finished yelling as he walked beside Yuusuke to their next class. Gym. Yuusuke snickered and instantly was treated to a very icy glare.

"You think that's funny?"

"No! Not at all!"

"Good."

"What's a squirt like him doing in a chem. lab anyway?" Yuusuke asked as they changed into their gym uniforms.

"I didn't ask," Kurama snapped, "I was too busy trying to keep my skin from melting."

"So, do you want me to teach him a lesson?" Yuusuke asked as they walked out onto the court.

"No, I'll do it my-OOF!" Kurama pitched face first into the ground as something slammed really hard into his back.

"What the hell!" He looked over his shoulder to see Hiei standing there.

"Why the hell did you do that!" In response Hiei picked up the ball that was undoubtedly the cause of Kurama's loss of dignity.

"Dodge Ball." He said all too sweetly, "You didn't dodge. You're out."

"Gym hasn't even started yet!"

"It hasn't?" Hiei looked at the clock with an expression of mock surprise, "Hn. I guess you're right. That hit doesn't count. Sorry for getting ahead of myself." Hiei strode away with an innocent2 smile on his face. Kurama glared after him.

"That's it, Hiei," He growled, "You're going down."

TBC.

1 In Japan they say the last name first. In English we would say Shuuichi Minamino. Like James Radcliff would be Radcliff James. Get it?

2 Innocent? Yeah right.


	2. You really think I don't see you?

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or any people that may appear from other animes. I do, however, own Shio. And to answer a few questions, yes I do spell Yuusuke's name with a double u and I believe it is spelled with only one, but I like it the other way, so for anyone who would like to be accurate, Yuusuke's name has one u. And I do think that Kurama is a little OOC in this, but for a bit of a reason. In this, Kurama is a normal teenage human, and we all know how teenage boys act. So I'm making him act a bit more like a teenager. Besides, whenever I write, Kurama always comes out more lecherous and free-spirited. And to NATOYA MOUTO, I can walk in a straight line now, and thanks for reviewing. And yes, Hiei is a freshman, he's just a very smart freshman, so he's in Kurama's Chemistry class and their art class. And gym.

OH! IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! NATOYA MOUTO'S ACCOUNT, WHICH HOUSED A YUGIOH FIC LABELED DARK DESIRES, HAS BEEN DELETED. WE ARE UNSURE AS OF WHY, THOUGH THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO MY ACCOUNT ALMOST A YEAR AGO. WE THINK SHE MAY HAVE BEEN REPORTED FOR SOMETHING, THOUGH SHE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG. So if anyone knows anything about this kinda thing, please tell me.

Place where the little stars go but for some reason they won't.

"So Kurama, how long are you going to be stalking Short-stuff?" Yuusuke asked from his position on the ground under the tree. Above him, Kurama was crouched on a tree branch, watching the small freshman eat lunch with a pretty green-haired girl.

"Until I get enough information to form a plan to take him down." Kurama snarled as he jotted something down in his notebook. Yuusuke sighed and popped another sushi roll into his mouth. Oh well, that meant he could eat Kurama's lunch. Speaking of eating lunch…

"Where's Kuwabara?" he asked, looking around for his orange-haired friend. Kuwabara was never late to lunch unless either dead or seriously injured, and even then he arrived somehow.

"He's over there." Kurama pointed across the yard, where Kuwabara was standing about twenty feet from Hiei's table with a bouquet of roses clutched in his hands.

"What is he doing?" Kuwabara walked forward, stopped, and then ran back to his previous position. And then he did it again. And again.

"He's lost it." Yuusuke sighed again. _It's pretty sad when I'm the one calling them crazy._

"Have you no knowledge of romance at all?" Kurama snapped as Kuwabara ran back again. "He's obviously trying to work up the courage to give flowers to someone over there!"

"Oh. Well, what's with the weird running back and forth? Some sort of good luck ritual?"

"No. He's just chickened out."

"Oh…Maybe we should help him?"

"Yes, You do that." Yuusuke stood and shoved the remainder of Kurama's lunch in his pocket.

"Oh, and while you're over there, find out what Hiei's favorite color is." _Yep. My friends have lost it._

Place where the little stars go

"Okay, This time I'll do it!" Kuwabara puffed out his chest, held the flowers out in front of him, and began to confidently march towards the table that held the beautiful maiden. The, after about three steps, the doubts began to surface.

_What if she doesn't like roses?_

_What if she thinks I'm ugly?_

_What if she has a boyfriend?_

_Heck, what if she's married?_

_I CAN'T ASK OUT A MARRIED GIRL!_

So Kuwabara turned and raced back to his previous position, trying to calm the fear that raged throughout his soul. Why was it so hard? Why couldn't he just ask her out?

"Kuwabara!"

"AAAAGGGHHHH!" Kuwabara screamed like a girl and threw the bouquet into the air as a hand clapped down on his shoulder. Yuusuke grinned at him.

"Whatcha doin' Kuwabara? We've been watching ya do this weird little ritual for the past ten minutes!" Kuwabara brushed off Yuusuke's hand and continued watching the object of his affections. When she smiled at something Hiei said, Kuwabara whipped out a notebook and jotted something down. Yuusuke eyed the notebook for a moment before he looked back at Kurama, who was writing something as well and staring intently at Hiei. _I knew it._

That's it!" He yelled, startling Kuwabara yet again and making him fall flat on his face. Laughing triumphantly to himself, Yuusuke strolled off to make his own plan.

Place where the little stars go

Hiei glanced again at Kurama, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide in a nearby tree. Did he really think he could hide with that hair? _And why is he staring at me? Weirdo._

"Something wrong, Onni-san?" (Does anyone know if that means brother?) Yukima asked.

"That creepy redhead won't leave me alone." He grumbled. Yukina smiled softly as she spied said redhead.

"I think I know why he's following you."

"Cuz' he's a creepy lunatic." Yukina laughed at this. Her brother could be so negative at times.

"I'm sure it's something much more pleasant."

"You mean he's suicidal and wants me to kill him?" Hiei looked at her hopefully, looking almost…innocent. Scary. Yukina shuddered and patted Hiei on the arm.

"I'm sure it's something _nice_." Hiei drifted off, thoughts filled with different types of torture and malicious ideas. Maybe Kurama was a masochist and wanted to hire him? That way he could hurt the redhead, not get arrested, and get paid all at the same time! Life's looking up!

Place where the little stars go

"You really just need to grit your teeth and get it over with." Kurama said to Kuwabara, whom was still trying to convince himself to ask the girl out.

"You think so?"

"Of course. Just don't grit your teeth when you actually ask or it won't go so well." Kurama waved the anxious teen away so he could go back to Hiei-watching. This boy's going down!

Place where the little stars go

"Why is he still staring at me?" Hiei fumed. Beside him, Yukina was trying to keep herself from shouting out a warning to the redhead. The poor boy had no idea what was about to happen.

"I'm sure it's nothing bad, Hiei." She said gently, lying through her teeth. It was well known by now what Hiei had done to Kurama on his first day and some of the students also knew that Kurama wasn't going to let it go. Not by a long shot.

"That's it," Hiei snapped, standing up, "I'm kicking his ass."

"Onee-San, No!" Yukina grabbed Hiei's arm and tried to pull him back into his chair. You see, one of Yukina's goals in life was to keep Hiei out of trouble. Which directly conflicted with Hiei's "keep Yukina safe" goals because Hiei's idea of protection was to beat the crap out of anyone looking at her. Which worked, needless to say, but got him into lots of trouble.

"Why not?" Hiei growled, still glaring at Kurama. _Why the hell is he following me! All I did was hit him with a ball…well, and I poured acid on his pants, but that was purely accidental!_

"You can't get expelled again!" Yukina said firmly, "You are going to stop fighting starting today, and you're going to apologize to Kurama for hitting him with a ball and pouring acid on him!"

"It was dodge ball. And the acid was an accident."

"Don't think you can fool me, Hiei. We're going over to Kurama right now and you're going to apologize." Yukina now stood and, still holding Hiei's arm, marched over to the tree that Kurama was currently hiding in.

"Wait! No! I'm not doing it!" Hiei would later say that he put up a mighty struggle. That Yukina was stronger than a thousand demons. But in reality, he just followed her meekly over to the tree, muttering protests the entire time.

Place where the little stars go

"W-what! Where are they going? Nooooooooo!" Kuwabara collapsed, tearing out chunks of hair in frustration. He'd finally worked up the courage to ask out the love of his life, and she'd walked off with that shrimp!

"Why? What does she see in him?"

Place where the little stars go

"What the hell are they doing?" Yuusuke paused in the act of bullying a short nerd out of his lunch money and stared in shock as Yukina marched over to Kurama's tree, followed closely by Hiei. The nerd, who goes by the Danny, decided that now was the opportune time to escape. However, his retreat was halted by a hand gripping the back of his shirt.

"Where do you think you're going!" Oh crap.

Place where the little stars go.

"Excuse me! Minamino-San?" Yukina smiled sweetly up at Kurama, who stared back with a dumbfounded expression. How did she find him? Oh, yeah. The hair. It's always the hair.

"Yes, Koorime-San?" Kurama said in his politest voice. After all, she was being polite to him, and it's always good to be polite. Unless, of course, the person is an evil, psychotic, shrimpy, demonish hell-spawn. Not that he was pointing fingers at anyone coughhieicough.

"You're Hiei's chemistry partner, aren't you?" Yukina asked, and Kurama's attention was drawn to the evil, psychotic, shrimpy, demonish hell-spawn in question. He was glaring up at Kurama for all he was worth, which would be quite a lot in the author's opinion, but standing rather meekly next to Yukina. Kurama raised an eyebrow at this. So Hiei was a spineless coward when up against his girlfriend, eh? Better write that down. Kurama whipped out his notebook again. _Is Spineless coward when up against girlfriend._ Now that could be something to use to his advantage.

"Minamino-San?"

"Yes, yes I am." Yukina's smile widened, though Kurama could sense something sinister hidden there.

"Could you perhaps tutor him?" Yep. Definitely something sinister.

"What? Tutor him?"

"After he apologizes for pouring acid on you." Kurama's eyes narrowed in contemplation.

"And for hitting me with a dodge ball," he added.

"It was a game, you moron," Hiei suddenly snapped at him, "You were supposed to dodge!"

"Was I supposed to dodge the acid, too?" Kurama shot back.

"Of course not! You had to sit there like a damsel in distress and wait for some one to rescue you!"

Kurama gasped. "Are you calling me a girl?"

"If the high heel fits," Hiei sneered at him.

"Both of you stop it!" Both fell silent at Yukina's outburst. She glared at them both, "Hiei, you are going to be tutored by Kurama and the two of you are going to get this silly rivalry out of the way! Hiei, I expect for you to spend a minimum of an hour a day after school with Kurama or you're cooking your own meals!" With that being said, Yukina turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving the two stunned boys in silence.

Place where the little Stars go

Yeah, it took me a while to write this chapter because I'm not sure where I'm going with this fic. Please review, no flames.


	3. Apology

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. If I did, Kurama and Hiei would be in a relationship and the opening song would be a lot cooler and feature Hiei more. Not that I don't love the thing, anyway. I'm busy working on a fic called Slave, located on because it's rating is too high for where the little stars go

Kurama sighed and glanced across the table at the motionless Hiei. He looked down at his open book and shuffled his feet a little. He tapped his pencil against the table. The clock on the wall ticked along in an annoyingly consistent pattern. Sigh. Glance. Shuffle. Tap. Tick. Sigh. Glance. Shuffle. Tap. Tick. Sigh. Glance. Shuffle. Tap. Tick. Would he snap soon? No. He wouldn't be the one to snap. He'd gone through worse. Much worse…

"Are you even breathing?" Damn. He snapped. Red eyes flicked up from the paper and thin eyebrows furrowed into a glare.

"Hn."

"I'm terribly sorry, sir. I don't speak 'Hn'. Could you perhaps try English?"

"Hn."

"Is there perhaps a translation book I could buy at a drugstore somewhere?" At this, Hiei did move. He reached into the book bag that sitting next to him, also black (did this boy not know what color was?) and pulled out a thick **black** notebook that was very worn and plopped it on the table. Kurama pulled it towards him and felt his left eyebrow twitch as he read the cover.

"The Official 'Hn' Dictionary? By Hiei." Kurama looked up at the now smirking freshman.

"You have no life, has anyone ever told you that?" Hiei shrugged, still looking incredibly smug. Stupid freshman. Kurama could bet that Hiei was just waiting for someone to ask so he could whip out that stupid dictionary.

"Hn."

"Will you stop with that!"

Another shrug.

"Are you this talkative around your girlfriend, too?"

"What?" Now Hiei was staring at him, looking rather puzzled.

"Your girlfriend. The one who made me tutor you? Green-ish hair? Red eyes?"

"Yukina is not my girlfriend, you dumbass! She's my sister!"

"…Oh." Damn. Should've known a shorty like him couldn't have gotten someone that cute.

"I'm not short!" _Did I say that out loud? Oops._

"Of course you're not short." Kurama said in an overly sweet tone, "You're just vertically challenged."

"And you're not girly." Hiei replied in the same tone that on him was rather scary. "You're just the farthest thing from masculine that there is."

"You're really pushing your luck. You know that, right?" Kurama growled while drawing little stick figures on his paper.

"I'm so scared." The stick figure started to resemble Hiei.

"You should be."

"What are you going to do? Strangle me with your girly hair?" The Hiei stick figure was suddenly decapitated by another stick figure that vaguely resembled Kurama.

"My hair is not girly."

"Could have fooled me."

"You're a real jack-ass."

"I try."

Place where the little stars go

"Hey, Kurama." Yuusuke said as Kurama stormed into the arcade, looking like he was about to declare war on the entire world. Then again, maybe he was about to do just that.

"Good evening, Yuusuke." Kurama spat out, glaring at the innocent slice of pizza in Yuusuke's hand. Yuusuke looked down at his pizza, then back up at Kurama. The redhead was staring at his slice as if it had somehow offended him.

"Umm…Kurama? Why are you staring at my pizza?" Kurama stopped glaring at the innocent slice long enough to glance up at him, then went back to glaring.

"It's…red." He ground out. "Like his eyes."

"……………….."

"Stop staring at me like that!" Kurama burst out.

"You're hating on my pizza because it reminds you of short-stuff?"

"…Yes! I can't look at anything that's red!" Kurama grabbed his hair in frustration. "I can't even attend to my roses!"

_Thinks of his eyes when he looks at roses._ Yuusuke wrote down in his notepad, then looked up at Kurama.

"You know your hair is red." He stated simply.

"I know!" Kurama yelled, causing half the people in the arcade to look at him. "My hair is red, it's girly! I may as well put on the high heels and go strutting around in a miniskirt!"

"Work it, babe!" Some one yelled, followed by several loud whistles.

"Shut the hell up, you mindless cretin!" Kurama yelled back. "Before I twist your head off and shove it up your ass!" Yuusuke leaned away from Kurama in shock. The polite, soft-spoken boy was constantly nagging Yuusuke about his behavior in public, and here he was threatening random people.

"You need to let off some steam." He said finally.

Place where the little stars go

"Hiei? Dinner is ready." Yukina said from the other side of Hiei's door.

"Hn." Hiei was lying on his bed with one arm thrown over his eyes. He was worn out. After several seconds of this, he stood up and made his way down to the kitchen. Yukina was already seated, though she had yet to pick up her chopsticks. When Hiei entered she looked up and smiled.

"You don't have to wait for me." He said as he sat down across from her and picked up his own chopsticks.

"But I couldn't start without you." She said softly.

"Hn." There was silence throughout the course of the meal until the twins were working on desert. Hiei was on his third bowl of ice cream by the time Yukina had finished her small portion.

"So, how did your tutoring session with Kurama go?" Hiei paused when she said that and then smirked.

"He asked for a translation packet." Yukina sighed.

"You didn't show him that dictionary of yours, did you?"

"Hn."

"What did he say?"

"That I had no life." Yukina put a hand over her face.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"Not until I called him girly."

"You did what!"

Place where the little stars go

"Kurama!" Yuusuke whined as Kurama's video game character took off after another person.

"Don't worry! I'll get him!" Kurama growled before he shot the pedestrian.

"Kurama! You got the cops after us!" Yuusuke snapped. The two were playing Grand Theft Auto because Yuusuke had thought that a little death and mayhem would take the edge off Kurama's temper. Apparently not. The redhead insisted on killing every single black-haired person they came across. Resulting in their having to run from the cops every five seconds.

"That one had red eyes!" Kurama said. "I swear it!" Yuusuke rolled his eyes and shut off the game.

"Hey!" Kurama protested. "I almost had him!"

"You need to do something about this little thing of yours." Kurama eyed him suspiciously.

"What thing?"

"This _thing_. You're stalking him, writing down notes on his behavior. Hell, you wanted to know what his favorite _color_ was." Yuusuke crossed his arms and looked sternly at his friend.

"So? I'm formulating a plan to bring about his downfall!"

"Sounds to me like you're obsessed with him." Yuusuke turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. Kurama sat there, stunned, for several seconds, trying to think up a good response that would reflect well on him.

"I'm not obsessed with him!" Definitely not that one.

Place where the little stars go

"So I asked him if he planned on strangling me with his girly hair." Hiei finished triumphantly. Yukina had sat there during his entire story, looking more irritated by the second. She would admit it. She had been hoping that the animosity between the two would disappear if they had the chance to spend some time together, but to no avail. Her brother had once again managed to mess it up.

"So I decided that for the sake of his mental health, we should avoid each other." Yukina stared at him.

"What?"

"For the sake of his mental health, we should avoid each other." Hiei repeated.

"Since when do you care about his mental health?" Yukina asked. Hiei gave her what was possibly the most innocent look he could muster, which in actuality wasn't very good. It reminded her of a serial killer she saw once in a horror film.

"I care very much!" He said. "I really do!"

"Oh really? Then you would mind-" Yukina was cut off as the phone rang. "We'll finish this later." She said as she strode towards the phone. Hiei took that opportunity to dash out of the room and upstairs.

"Hello? Urameshi? May I help you?" Yukina blinked. "Kurama? Murderous?...You want to what!...I don't think that's going to help……Thinks of Hiei's eyes whenever he sees something red?...Okay……Goodbye." Shaking her head in confusion, Yukina hung up and glanced at the stairway.

"Hiei? Could you come down here?" She waited only a few seconds before Hiei vaulted down over the stair railing and landing catlike on the floor.

"Hn?" Yukina smiled at him.

"That was Kurama on the phone. He wishes to apologize to you."

"Apologize?" He asked suspiciously. This was very suspicious. Incredibly suspicious. What could that incredibly girly redhead be planning?

Yukina nodded. "Yes. He wants to meet you at the school."

Hiei frowned. There was a very minute chance that Kurama actually did want to apologize and he was prepared to fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness, something that Hiei would thoroughly enjoy and make fun of him for. There was also the chance that Kurama wanted to kill him and planned to hide his body in a school locker, something that would be incredibly embarrassing. Well, he could always haunt the bastard if he did that.

"I'll go." Hiei decided and Yukina's face brightened.

"Good. This will give you two a chance to get better acquainted!" Yukina handed him his coat and shooed him out the front door.

"Be on your best behavior!" She called out after him, before the door shut. Hiei stood there staring at the doorway, wondering about his sister's odd behavior, before shrugging and walking away in the direction of the school.

Place where the little stars go

Kurama waited impatiently by the back entrance of the school. It was already dark and he'd had to climb up over the fence in order to get in. He checked his watch again. Hiei was fifteen minutes late. Kurama had been in his room finishing his homework when his mother had come up to tell him that a young man by the name of Hiei had called. He had insisted that Kurama meet him by the back entrance of the school so he could apologize. Naturally, Kurama found this a bit suspicious. Why on earth would a vicious, evil, demon, hell-spawn like Hiei want to apologize? It was just so illogical.

"But, if he does want to apologize, this will only make it easier to bring about his downfall!" Kurama rubbed his hands together in glee. He would ever-so-graciously accept the short one's apology, lure him in by being the ever wonderful and handsome friend, and then crush him when he finally gave in to his feelings! So perfect!

"Now, where is this room?" Kurama pulled out the slip of paper on which he'd written down the room number.

"Room number 345. That's in the science wing." Kurama pulled open the heavy door to the science wing and continued down the hall until he came to the appropriate door. He pulled it open and could see someone sitting in the window across the room.

"Hiei?" He let the door shut behind him and walked across the room to the him.

"Took you long enough." Came the waspish reply.

"I know." Kurama tucked the paper back into his pocket and leaned one hip against the table. The two stood in a tense silence, each one waiting for the other to speak.

"Hurry up!" Hiei's irritated voice broke the silence. "I haven't got all night!"

"Neither have I!" Kurama shot back. "So apologize now!"

"…Apologize?"

"Yes, that's why you called me here." Hiei turned from staring out the window to glaring at him.

"I'm not apologizing to you!"

"Then why did you call me here!" Kurama demanded. Why the hell was he being so difficult? Why couldn't he just admit that he was wrong and apologize!

"You said that you were going to say sorry to me!"

"I did not!"

"I knew it was a trick!" Hiei snapped at him, shoving himself up and stalking past Kurama. Kurama grabbed his shoulder in a hard grip and spun the shorter boy around to face him. Hiei glared down at his hand so fiercely that for a moment Kurama was worried that he was going to bite him. But his grip didn't loosen.

"You're not leaving until you apologize." He hissed, squeezing Hiei's shoulder for emphasis.

"As if I'd do that for a girly slut like you."

"I am going to kill you!"

Kurama wasn't really sure how they ended up on the floor in such an interesting position, though he was prepared to deny any speculation that either of them were thinking of such a thing, though he wasn't so sure about Hiei. Kurama had dove for Hiei's neck, intent upon strangling him, and Hiei had responded by punching him in the gut. The two had ended up sprawled out with Hiei straddling Kurama's chest with his hands around the redhead's neck and Kurama with a hand in Hiei's hair and the other making it's way towards his groin, ready to twist off an important piece of Hiei's anatomy. Which by all means made for a very…suggestive photograph.

The fighting teens froze in shock at the bright flash and the loud rakish yell that accompanied it.

"Yuusuke!" Kurama choked out. Yuusuke stood in the door way with a big grin on his face and a camera in his hands.

"I knew you guys were hot for each other!" He crowed, still grinning in triumph.

"What the fuck are you going on about!" Hiei snarled, wondering whether he should continue choking Kurama, or go for Yuusuke instead. Both were now very high on his long list of People to Maim, Mutilate, and Cause General Discomfort For.

"Funny you should mention that." Yuusuke said, holding up the picture that had slid out of the camera. "You two look like you're trying to fuck, not fight."

"Let me see that!" Kurama said, dumping Hiei off so that he could lunge at Yuuske. But the black-haired boy dodged and took off down the hallway, shouting about how the girls were going to love it.

"Oh fuck." Hiei and Kurama exchanged a look before they both took off after him, rivalry forgotten in the face of a greater problem.

"If this ever gets out, I swear I'm going to kill you." Hiei growled at him.

"Don't worry." Kurama replied. "I would have already done it."

Place where the little stars go

I really had no idea what I was going to do with this, I'm a little preoccupied with Slave at the moment. But I decided to see what I could do with this. Thanks to my reviewers for reminding me about my other fics.


	4. Miniskirt

Sorry I have been so delayed. If you want to read part of a fic I am writing, read my author's notes at the bottom.

Warnings: Language, mentions of crossdressing, will have yaoi in the future. No flames, but constructive criticism is appreciated.

Place where the little stars go

"So? Did you catch him?" Kurama asked as Hiei sat down next to him.

"Does it look like it?" Was the testy reply.

"Figures." Kurama sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!"

"Just that with your short legs I didn't expect you to catch him."

"I'm sorry that I don't have lovely long legs like you!" Hiei shot back.

"Yes, they are nice, aren't they?" Kurama stretched out his legs on the grass so that he could look at them. He did have very nice legs.

"You'd look good in a miniskirt." Kurama glared at Hiei, who was leaning back against the tree trunk.

"You know just how to flatter a guy."

"I thought you'd appreciate it." Kurama sighed again. He was so tired. According to his watch, it was a little past midnight. Yuusuke had obviously had his escape planned, because he had outrun them easily. Either that or they were both really slow runners.

"I hope Yuusuke doesn't show anyone that picture…Hiei?" Hiei didn't reply. The dark-haired boy's eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and even.

"You're asleep? What!" Kurama irritably thumped the back of his head against the tree trunk before he closed his eyes as well.

"I just hope it doesn't rain."

Place where the little stars go

General Kurama confidently surveyed the battlefield. Yes, the enemy was being held back, possibly to the point of surrender by now. Perfect. The time to charge was at hand! They would take the castle and reclaim the item stolen! Lord Yuusuke would have no choice but to return the incredibly scandalous painting that was currently in his possession!

"Men! Onward!" General Kurama yelled, pulling out his sword to hold it above his head in a very heroic and dashing pose.

"Kurama!...Wake up, you bastard!" Kurama gasped when something poked him sharply in the chest and he jerked up, glaring at Hiei.

"That's _General_ Kurama to you, private!" He snapped. He continued glaring at Hiei, who was staring back at him. Kurama looked around in a daze for a few seconds before he realized that he was not standing on a battlefield in a heroic pose. He was leaning against a tree in the park, looking like a complete and utter moron.

"What did you call me?" Hiei asked, looking more confused than anything else.

"Um…never mind." Kurama slumped back against the tree and shut his eyes when a ray of sunlight hit him in the face.

"What time is it?" Kurama brought his wrist up and looked at his watch.

"9:34…SCHOOL!" Kurama leapt to his feet, startling Hiei who fell onto his back. Kurama looked around frantically for his book bag, then remember what happened the night before.

Do you think Yuusuke is going to show everyone that picture! Because I will have to kill him! My reputation will be ruined!"

"What reputation?" Hiei had stood and was brushing himself off, seeming unperturbed by everything.

"My reputation as a normal, _straight_ guy!"

"Oh. That one." Hiei yawned and sat back down on the grass. "I think that one was ruined years ago."

"It was not!" Kurama huffed and turned away from Hiei, trying to resist the urge to strangle him. How dare Hiei imply that he was anything other than a perfectly straight, masculine, entirely un-feminine, very handsome example of the male species!

"You have long hair and you smell like rose. How gay could you get?" Damn that Hiei!

"I am not gay!" Kurama shouted, startling an old lady who was feeding some pigeons nearby. He waved at her before continuing in a hard whisper.

"And how do you know what I smell like?" At this, Hiei did look back at him.

"While we were rolling around on the floor, I got a face full of your hair."

"It's my shampoo!" Kurama snapped, crossing his arms and turning pointedly away.

"You use _rose-scented_ shampoo?" Hiei smiled sardonically. "Oh, _yes_. That's not feminine at all."

"Shut up."

"How eloquent!" Hiei said, mockingly. "What's your encore? Bite me?"

"You little!" Kurama broke off and covered his face with his hands. It just wasn't fair.

Places where the little stars go

Kurama sat down under his usual tree and sighed. His stomach rumbled and he gazed down at it with pity. The day had not been going well. He had been late to school, forgotten all of his schoolwork, hadn't had time to take a shower the night before, and was covered in grime and dirt from the night before. Not to mention the fact that his clothing was ripped in several places, so he had been reprimanded several times. On the upside, Yuusuke was nowhere to be seen, so at least the picture was not to be seen either. Sadly, that meant that Kurama could not smash Yuusuke's head into the nearest desk in order to ascertain the location of said photograph.

"Move over." Kurama blinked as he was abruptly shoved over and Hiei plopped down next to him. In his hands was a large plate of what looked like Sushi and Fried Rice. Kurama's stomach growled loudly as the smell wafted to him.

"Where did you get that?" Hiei shot him a dirty look and picked up his chopsticks, blatantly ignoring him. Kurama frowned and jabbed Hiei in the shoulder with his finger. All he got was another dirty look. His stomach gave another rumble and he threw caution to the winds and snatched a sushi roll of the plate. As expected, he found his fingers caught in a very hard grip and the roll grabbed out of his hand.

"Get your own food." Hiei snapped.

"You owe me breakfast." Kurama made another attempt for the roll and was once again rebuked.

"I don't owe you a damn thing." Hiei responded, and popped the roll into his mouth.

"Other than a new pair of pants." Kurama said, and Hiei sighed around his mouthful of food and held out the plate to Kurama. He wasted no time in snagging several rolls and shoved one in his mouth, savoring the wonderful taste of food. The sushi roll was better than his mother's, surprisingly enough.

"This is good!" He said after he had swallowed and popped another one into his mouth.

"Hn." Hiei was eating very quickly, and the large amount of food was dwindling fast. Kurama quickly snatched up a few more rolls before they were devoured.

"How you eat so much yet stay so skinny is beyond me." He commented. Once again Hiei gave him a dirty look.

"I just fed you, so shut up." Kurama scowled a bit at this, but didn't say anything else. He looked around the schoolyard, hoping to find Yuusuke, and finally noticed all the strange looks they were getting. People he didn't even know stopped to stare before continuing on with their routine. Most had expressions of shock and amazement, though the group of girls hiding behind the trashcan appeared more homicidal than anything else.

"Hiei." He nudged his short companion in the o get his attention and was rewarded with a _much_ harder nudge back.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" He whispered, casting another cautious glance at the girls. Hiei spared a glance around the yard, taking in all the people who were staring and whispering.

"Don't they usually stare at you?" He asked. Kurama nodded.

"Yes, but more with adoration and awe. They staring as if I'm sitting here naked." He paused to consider that.

"No, I'd still be getting looks of admiration and awe." Beside him, Hiei rolled his eyes.

"They're probably just imagining you in a miniskirt."

"You be quiet!" Kurama hissed. "The only person who would enjoy that would be you!" Hiei smirked suddenly and stood up.

"What are you doing?" Kurama watched in confusion as Hiei crossed the short distance to the picnic table and hopped up onto it. This made him about 2 feet higher, thus making him almost normal height (creepy, ain't it?).

"Wha?" Hiei suddenly brought his hands up to his mouth and spoke louder than Kurama had ever heard him speak before.

"PEOPLE!" Everyone froze, staring at the one person who was known to never speak more than a few syllables at a time. Kurama stared as well. _What is he doing?_

"I WOULD LIKE YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT KURAMA WOULD LOOK DAMN GOOD IN A MINISKIRT!" Kurama gasped in horror as Hiei continued.

"I WILL BE COLLECTING MONEY FROM THOSE WHO WISH TO SEE HIM IN A MINISKIRT!" With that said, Hiei hopped off the table and took off. Kurama sat there, too stunned to move, until the full reality of what Hiei said hit him.

"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Kurama leapt to his feet and took off after the short freshman. As he ran across the yard, whistles and raucous cheers followed him.

Place where the little stars go

I am unsure as to where I am going with this fic. I will figure it out soon enough. Summer vacation is starting soon, so hopefully I will have more time to write. I know there were many of you who enjoyed ATTW, but at the moment that fic is at a standstill. It was going along nicely until it got deleted, and then I just lost my momentum on it. It's sad, I know. Also, I AM WRITING SOMETHING BASED OFF OF KING KONG, BUT WITH A HOT GUY INSTEAD OF AN APE. I HAVE NOT GOTTEN VERY FAR WITH IT, BUT ANYONE WHO WISHES TO READ IT, EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AND I WILL SEND YOU WHAT I HAVE. Personally, I think it is very good, though not finished.


	5. Enter Shio

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. I do, however, own Shio. Anyone tries to snatch him, much pain will ensue. Shio is a character of my creation, and I put him in here just because. This chapter does focus on him a bit, simply because he is being introduced. This chapter contains slight yaoi, and language. Pairing are eventual Kurama/Hiei, very slight Hiei/Shio, and definite Yuusuke/Shio. Sorry I've taken so long to update, but I got inspired today. Finally.

&(T(T(GJHBFYFGIGI

Chapter 5: Enter Shio

Had one of the old ladies feeding the pigeons in the park decided to look away from her feathery friends, she would have seen a strikingly feminine yet still attractive young man sitting under a tree. He had a scowl marring his lovely face, and every so often he would direct that scowl towards the tree above him.

"Are you going to come down?" Kurama asked the dark shadow on the branch.

"When you leave." Came the grumbled reply. Kurama picked a blade of grass and twirled it between his fingers. He would never be able to step foot in school again. He would have to transfer. No, he would have to move far away to a place where no one had ever heard of him. He had heard that the Antarctic was lovely this time of year.

"Kurama!!!" Yes. Antarctica was a fine idea.

"Kurama!!!" But first, he would have to get rid of the annoying voice next to his head. Kurama turned his head to the side and found himself at eyelevel with someone's knee. His eyes went up the leg to a groin that looked oddly familiar. He sighed and tilted his head back.

"Yes, Yuusuke?" The dark-haired teen plopped down on the ground and fixed Kurama with an almost hostile glare.

"Promise not to tell anyone?" Kurama blinked.

"Tell anyone what?" Yuusuke smirked.

"Exactly. I need your help."

"That is what I am here for…I guess."

"Good. Here's the deal. I've got this…person that I'm kinda trying to win over. You know what I mean?"

"I think…"

"Right. And I decided to get hi-…the person, some flowers. So, I need your help in deciding what kind of flowers to get."

"Oh…" Kurama sighed. "Yuusuke…is this person a boy?"

"What?! No-that's-no! What the hell made you fucking think that?!" Yuusuke sputtered and waved his arms, nearly hitting Kurama in the head with his fist.

"Yuusuke." Kurama said with a hint of warning. Yuusuke sighed, instantly deflated.

"Yeah. It's a guy. But not just any guy! The hottest boy in the entire fucking world!!!" The old lady feeding the pigeons abruptly stood and hobbled away.

"I see…How do you know he likes flowers?" Yuusuke froze.

"Well…don't all gay guys like flowers?" He asked awkwardly. Kurama frowned.

"I like flowers." He said stiffly.

"Yeah…well…" Kurama's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Yeah, well what?" He asked in a low voice that Yuusuke knew all too well. It was the I'm-about-to-go-psycho-and-cause-mass-destruction-and-you're-my-first-target look.

"Well…aren't you gay?" He asked in a very small voice.

"I AM NOT GAY!!!" The old lady broke into a run. There was a muffled snort above them and Kurama directed his murderous gaze at Hiei.

"YOU SHUT UP! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" He roared when he saw Hiei grinning down at him. The short boy's grin only widened. Kurama turned his gaze away and proceeded to make strangling motions with his hands. If only that infuriating freshman would get out of the tree so he could properly kill him!

"So…about the flowers?" Yuusuke asked tentatively. Kurama finished strangling the imaginary Hiei and turned to Yuusuke with a saccharine smile.

"Lilies." He said simply. Yuusuke nodded frantically and turned on his heel. It would be best to leave Kurama to his angry thought. Besides, he had a hottie to woo!

GKG((&KH

Hiei looked over his shoulder one last time before he started up the steps to his house. When he reached the front door, he stopped and stared at the large bouquet of lilies that were somehow secured in their mailbox. He shrugged and removed them. As he opened the door, he read the little card in the bouquet.

_To the hottest boy in the entire fucking world._

Hiei's eyebrows shot up. The phrase sounded familiar…no…it couldn't be…

"Shio!" He yelled as he slammed the door shut behind him. There was a loud crash in the kitchen followed by colorful cursing. Hiei cautiously poked his head in the door. Other than a large stack of pans on the floor, the kitchen was relatively undamaged.

"Hey, Hiei! You're home early!" Hiei turned and found himself staring at a pair of legs clad in ripped black cargo pants. He tilted his head up until he could see Shio's face.

"Why are you on the counter?"

"I'm trying to find the whisk! I can whisk things without a whisk!" Shio turned and went back to digging through the cabinet. Hiei sighed and opened the drawer and pulled out the utensil.

"All the utensils are kept in this drawer." He said as he handed it to Shio.

"Yeah, sure. Got it." Shio hopped off the counter and held up the whisk with a triumphant grin on his face. Hiei leaned against the counter to watch him. Only a few inches taller than Hiei and with a slender build, Shio was often mistaken for a girl. Hiei himself had thought Shio to be a woman when they had first met. The waist length silver hair did nothing to help the image either. Hiei tilted his head to the side to watch the strands of hair in Shio's braid sparkle as the light hit them.

"Stop staring at my ass, Hiei." Shio said as he vigorously whisked the concoction in the mixing bowl. Hiei barely blushed. He was used to Shio's perverted mind. Although he did not look it, Shio was older than Hiei by nearly a decade and had been taking care of him and Yukina for almost four years.

"Get the milk, will you?" Hiei nodded and went to search through the fridge. Behind him, Shio cursed softly as whatever he was mixing spilled over. Hiei couldn't help but smile. Poor Shio could not cook. It just did not agree with him. He was possibly the only person Hiei knew of who could make a bowl of cereal and have it be lethal. The only thing Shio could make was mixed drinks, in fact, he excelled at it, which was why he worked as a bartender in a down town nightclub.

"Yo! Milk, now!" Hiei snapped out of his thoughts and pulled the milk out of the fridge. He put the milk on the counter and Shio snatched it. He poured it straight into the mixture without using a measuring cup. Hiei went back to observing when he remembered the flowers he had put on the coffee table as he came in. The flowers were probably for Shio, the 'hottest boy in the entire fucking world.' Although, Hiei could understand how someone could come to such a conclusion. Shio had an exotic type of beauty that drew people to him. Long silver hair, black eyes, and pale ivory skin. Shio's body was perfectly toned, and he had no qualms about showing large amounts of flesh. Oh yes, Hiei could understand how someone could find him attractive. He himself had found his night-time…er…thoughts…invaded by the demonically tempting seraph. However, after a few days of running out of the room whenever Shio entered, Hiei had given up denying the fact that he was attracted to his guardian. Of course, he knew Shio would never consider him. He was like a younger brother to Shio, so he couldn't expect him to be entertaining the same thoughts. But it was nice to think about.

&GKJHK(&

Yuusuke nervously paced on the sidewalk in front of the large two-story house. He could go up and ring the doorbell…and then he would be face to face with the angel he had seen two nights ago. His pulse raced at the thought of meeting him. He could see it all now. He would knock on the door, and when the angel answered, he would be cool, confident and he would slip past him, force him back against a wall, and-Whoa! Yuusuke shook his head frantically to get the image out of his mind. Okay, so he'd put quite a bit of thought into it while alone in his room. A guy could dream, couldn't he?

"Alright, Yuusuke. You can do this!" Yuusuke snarled as he paced. "You are the #1 delinquent at Sariyastic High! You can beat the shit out of anyone in this city! You are not afraid!" He puffed up his chest, put on his best cocky smirk, and confidently marched up the steps to the front door of the house. However, as he climbed the steps, doubts began circulating in his mind. _What if he doesn't like me? What if he thinks I'm crazy? Or a stalker? What if he has a boyfriend?!_ Yuusuke froze. He had not thought of that. Although, anyone as attractive as that boy probably had some big, muscular boyfriend.

"Suck it up and find out!" He snapped. He had reached the door. He raised a hand and knocked sharply on the wood. A few seconds later, it opened and a familiar face peered out at him.

"What the hell do you want?" Hiei demanded. Yuusuke froze. His world was coming to an end. There was no way in hell Hiei lived with someone that hot!

"What? W-What are you doing here?!" Hiei glared at him.

"I live here, dumbass."

"Oh…how'd you get away from Kurama?"

"I hit him with a tree branch and ran. He might be waking up soon."

"Hiei? Who's at the door?" A male voice called. Immediately, an evil grin appeared on Hiei's face. Yuusuke swallowed. Evil grin. Baaaaaad sign.

"A friend of mine!" Hiei yelled over his shoulder. He turned back to Yuusuke, still with that grin.

"I take it you want to meet, and I quote, 'the hottest boy in the entire fucking world'?" Yuusuke was seriously considering running when Hiei's hand shot out and snagged his sleeve.

"N-No! Seriously, I'll leave!" But Hiei dragged him through and shut the door behind him. Yuusuke found himself being pulled through a large living room and into a very modern style kitchen.

"You're a friend of Hiei's?"

Yuusuke stopped short, his entire body stilling as the angel he had come to see came into his vision. The angelic creature was just as lovely up close as he had been across the street. Dark eyes, milky white skin, silver hair pulled back into a loose braid, full lips parted slightly. A pair of low slung black cargo pants and no shirt…No shirt. What little blood that occupied Yuusuke's head immediately left to head for his…other head.

"Not really." Hiei answered for him and Yuusuke breathed a sigh of relief. The sigh turned into a choking intake as Hiei continued.

"He thinks you're hot and was the one who left flowers by the front door." Hiei turned and left Yuusuke standing there, faced with the most beautiful person he had ever met.

"…flowers?" His angel asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"Er…yeah…hi." Yuusuke mentally smacked himself. _Way to sound like a moron, idiot!_

"Hi?...Do I know you?" He was standing there, shirtless, holding a batter-covered whisk in one hand. If only he were wearing a chef's hat. It would complete the picture.

"Uh…no…I mean, we've never met." Yuusuke mumbled, staring down at the floor.

"I see…I'm Shio." Yuusuke jerked his head up to stare at him. _Shio. My angel's name is Shio?_ His mind shut down and he felt like prancing around reciting poetry. Would Shio let him do that?

"Who are you?"

"Oh, me?" Yuusuke put on his most confident face and casually went to lean against the counter. Be cool. Be suave. However, he missed the counter, fell backwards, and slammed his head against it instead. Pain blossomed in his forehead and he groaned.

"Are you alright!?" A cool hand pressed against his forehead and Yuusuke felt his stomach flutter. Shio was touching him! Heaven!

&GGJHKK&&

When Hiei brought the young man into the room and announced that he was the one who had left the flowers, Shio had been surprised. He was used to propositions, but never had anyone leave flowers. The young man was attractive, in a cocky punk sort of way.

Of course, he was too busy checking the boy's forehead for injury to dwell on that.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he ran his fingers over the small bump. The boy winced, but nodded.

"I'm fine." Shio rocked back onto his heels to give him space to sit up.

"So, who are you again?"

"Yuusuke. Urameshi Yuusuke."

&JGJG&&

Hiei would call himself patient. Yes, he could sit in the same spot for hours without moving a muscle. But waiting in the living room, knowing the Yuusuke was alone in there with Shio, it just set him on edge. He had flopped down on the couch, turned on the T.V., flipped through channels, turned off the T.V., and then turned it on again.

"Stupid Urameshi." Hiei muttered, and he crossed his arms over his chest. Suddenly, there was a cry of pain that sounded suspiciously like Yuusuke.

"Go sit with Hiei!" Yuusuke was abruptly shoved out of the kitchen, amidst flying pots and pans. One of Hiei's boots was conveniently placed by the kitchen door and Yuusuke stumbled over it and landed on the ground, much to Hiei's amusement.

"Agghh…Ow…"

"Having problems?"

"Shut up, Hiei."

"Hiei!" Shio emerged from the kitchen, clutching the whisk in his hand. He was glaring at Yuusuke, and his cheeks were faintly pink. Hiei quirked an eyebrow but made no comment.

"You…you…" He pointed the whisk at Yuusuke and the teen eyed it warily.

"You are going to go home after I feed you, and you are going to listen to sad music and be creepy and depressed for the next week!"

"Okay…" Yuusuke glanced over at Hiei, but he did not appear to have any idea what Shio was getting at.

"Or," Shio continued, "You are going to eat chocolate and read romance novels. Whatever it takes for you to realize that you have been turned down!" Yuusuke nodded mutely. Shio turned and stomped back into the kitchen, leaving Yuusuke and Hiei in stunned silence.

"What the hell did you do?" Hiei demanded. Yuusuke grinned sheepishly and wiped a trail of blood off his lip.

"Well…I kinda professed my love."

_Flashback_

_Shio was touching him! Pure heaven!_

"_You're not bleeding." Shio's lightly ran his fingers over Yuusuke's forehead. The young man looked up into those sinfully dark eyes and felt it welling up in his chest. He could not say it! He could not! No! Do not say it!_

"_I love you! Will you marry me?" Oops. He said it. Crap. Shio's mouth had dropped open and his eyes had widened almost comically. He chuckled softly and sat up._

"_I think you hit your head harder than I thought." He said, and he offered a hand to Yuusuke. The teen took it and Shio rose and pulled him to his feet. Now that he was so close, Yuusuke was surprised by how short Shio was. In fact, he probably was around the same height as Hiei…no…Hiei was shorter than that._

"_Sorry 'bout that." He mumbled. Shio smiled up at him and tugged on his hand. Yuusuke face instantly turned a bright red when he realized that he still had a tight grip on Shio's delicate hand._

"_Sorry 'bout that, too." _

"_That's okay. You're a little dazed." The smart thing to do after something like that would be to laugh awkwardly and apologize for being clumsy. Unfortunately, Yuusuke was not known for his intelligence._

"_Ow! Pain!" Yuusuke feigned a moan of agony and slumped forward. Instantly, just as he expected, hands braced against his chest to hold him upright._

"_Let me help you." Yuusuke lifted his head to look into concerned dark eyes._

"_Okay!" Shio yelped as Yuusuke suddenly lunged forward, his arms wrapping around his slim form._

"_Wha-?!" His sentence was cut off as Yuusuke captured Shio's lips in a hard and rather clumsy kiss. Shio's arched his back and pushed on the hard chest, but Yuusuke did not budge. No, he was too busy forcing his tongue into Shio's mouth. To his surprise, those soft lips parted to allow him entry. With a silent cry of victory, he plunged into the hot mouth. Suddenly, sharp teeth snapped down on the slick muscle, and the coppery taste of blood filled Yuusuke's mouth._

"_Yeaaaaggghhhh!!!" Yuusuke's head snapped back and his hand came up to clamp over his mouth. Something hit him in the stomach and he hunched over as his breath was forced out of him._

"_Go fucking sit with Hiei!"_

END FLASHBACK

"So, I've been turned down," Yuusuke finished, and he gave a dejected sigh. Hiei stared at him blankly for a moment before his head tilted back and he started laughing. Yuusuke huffed and glared at him. He knew a mocking laugh when he heard it.

"Stop fucking laughing at me, Hiei!" Shio yelled from the kitchen. This only made the short boy laugh harder and a kitchen knife flew past him to land with a sharp 'thunk' in the wall above his head. Hiei went silent, glanced up at the wall, and reached up to wrench it out.

"I'm telling Yukina that you did that!" He called. There was a loud crash in the kitchen.

"Do that and I ground you!"

"You can't do that!"

"I fucking can!"

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

"Can not!"

"Can t-Fuck!" Crash Yuusuke leapt to his feet, whereas Hiei did not move. He was busy toying with the kitchen knife. Against his better judgment, Yuusuke ran into the kitchen only to find Shio buried under a mountain of pots and pans.

"Shio!" The older man gave him a sour look and grabbed a silver pot.

"Didn't I tell you to wait in the living room?" He growled. Yuusuke gulped at the maniacal gleam in his eyes.

"Er…yeah, but-!"

"Then get out!" Shio raised the pan above his head and Yuusuke turned tail and ran before he lost his head.

"Just stay in here." Yuusuke scowled at Hiei, who was still lounging on the couch. The shorter boy noticed the look and nodded towards the door.

"He gets like that when it's his turn to cook."

&HGGJ&&

"Ow." Kurama rubbed the sore spot on his head and winced. "When I get a hold of that little punk, I am going to twist his head off, grind his body into fertilizer, and then use the head as a fucking planter!"

Normally, our lovely red-haired bishounen disliked using such strong language. However, if you had just woken up after being hit on the head with a stick, you'd use strong language, too. He had been waiting patiently under the tree for Hiei to get his ass down in order to have it kicked, when the boy had dropped down next to him. Before Kurama could do anything to hurt him, a thick tree branch had connected with his skull, sending him into the blissful world of unconsciousness.

"Minamino-san! Minamino-san!" The light, feminine voice behind him almost made him break out into a run. After all, dealing with fan girls while suffering a mild concussion is never fun.

"Pardon me, Kurama-san!" He stopped. It could not be a fan girl. They always called him Shuichi. He turned and smiled when he saw the girl running towards him.

"Koorime-san! How are you today?" He asked politely. Yukina slowed to a halt and smiled at him.

"I'm fine today, thank you. And you?" Kurama ignored the throbbing in his head.

"Wonderful, it's a lovely day." She nodded and fell into step next to him.

"Minamino-san? I was wondering, have you seen my brother? Hiei? He left school early today and I have not seen him since then!"

"Ah, I saw him for a brief moment, but I have no idea where he went."

"Oh," Yukina's face fell, but brightened a second later. "Oh, I also wanted to invite you to dinner!"

"Dinner?" Kurama blinked in confusion. Oh no! Was Yukina asking him out? Was she becoming a fan girl as well! No! She was too sweet and wonderful to become an obsessive stalker! Noooooooooo!!!!

"Minamino-san?" Kurama snapped out of his inner anguish and smiled again at her.

"You see, Shio-san, our guardian, wanted to invite you over for dinner. He said he wanted to meet the person brave enough to tutor Hiei." She laughed as if the idea of her sibling being scary was positively ludicrous.

"Oh." He could not possibly refuse, not if the offer came from their guardian. It was not as if he had anything to do tonight.

"I would be delighted."

TBC…

In case anyone is wondering what Shio does for money, he is a bartender at a very popular nightclub. I'm not sure what the name is yet, but there are strippers and wonderful stuff like that. Shio is wealthy to begin with because his parents were and they left him a huge fortune. So that's why he was able to adopt two children without any worry of the cost.

I'm not sure about Japanese add-ons like 'san' and whatnot. I can't remember them at the moment, nor can I remember the exact name of Yuusuke's school. And I know Kurama goes to a different school, but for the moment they go to the same one. Could you see Hiei wearing Kurama's school uniform?

I know that was a bad place to end it, but I felt like it. Besides, I want to update now. No, for those of you who are wondering, Shio is not going to do anything with Hiei. I made him a decade older so that I could explain their apparent lack of parents. He is their guardian since their parents died. Yes, Hiei does find him attractive, but if you people all knew what Shio looks like in my head, you would totally understand. Shio is normally much crazier than he acted in this chapter, but the rest will come out eventually. If you're wondering why Kurama went from angry to charmingly polite, it's because he's supposed to be polite to people, and I couldn't have him be rude to Yukina! I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. Please review!


	6. Dinner

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH, but I do own Shio!

Warning: Some yaoi and slight language. If you flame me for writing yaoi, I will take time out of my life to laugh at your pathetic existence, and then go back to writing my yaoi.

I'd like to thank those who reviewed, and those who were patient with me during my writer's block. It's funny how I am unable to write one chapter, yet I have over 25 different original stories, with Shio as the main character of course. I'm afraid I'm terribly fond of him. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapter.

I'd also like to thank **RainAngelSong** for her help with the Japanese honorifics. I really had no idea what I was doing and you were a big help! Thank you!

------------------------------------------------

"Quit staring at me." Yuusuke flushed when he realized that he had been found out.

"I wasn't staring." He grumbled.

"You were staring at my ass." Shio snapped as he stirred the soup on the stove.

"Was not!" He rolled his eyes at the childish reply.

"I know I have a nice ass," He said, and paused to listen to Yuusuke's sputtering. "But staring is rude."

"I was not staring!" Yuusuke slammed his fist down on the table and the dishes rattled. There a moment of tense silence before Shio slowly turned to look at him. Yuusuke gulped at the flat yet oddly scary look on Shio's face. Of course, the shiny knife in his hand did not make the picture look any more amicable.

"Why are you even in here?" Shio asked after he had turned around to continue chopping the peppers. Yuusuke released the breath that he had not realized he had been holding.

"Just wanted to spend some time with you," Yuusuke propped his chin up on one hand to continue what he had been doing. Staring at Shio's ass. Hey, everyone needs a hobby.

"Yeah right," Shio scoffed. "I know how you teenagers work."

"You do?"

"Of course," Shio said as he began measuring out a cup of sugar. "You're busy thinking dirty thoughts that involve mainly me."

"And a riding crop." Yuusuke added. Shio jerked suddenly and sugar spilled all over the counter. Yuusuke smirked. Even from there he could see the red flush the spread up the back of Shio's neck. Perhaps this would not be so hard after all.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Why the hell are you here?!" Hiei snarled at the red-haired boy who was sitting in _his_ chair. Kurama gave him a thoroughly disgusted look over the top of the magazine in his hands.

"Why are you?" He countered.

"I live here!" Kurama ignored him and turned the page.

"Get out now!"

"Hiei! What the hell have I told you about being polite?!" Shio yelled from the kitchen. Hiei froze and Kurama snickered at his panicked expression.

"Would you _please_ get the hell out!"

"Hiei! Stop that!" Yukina appeared at the top of the stairs with a warning look on her face. Kurama would have smirked at the way Hiei visibly deflated, but he knew that would set the smaller boy off again. As it was, Hiei shot him a venomous look before he stalked to the stairs and stomped up them. Kurama was left alone in the living room until a crash was heard and Yuusuke came flying out of the kitchen.

"Stay the hell out!" Yuusuke appeared quite smug for someone who had a bloody nose.

"Hey, Kurama!" He grinned through the blood and plopped down on the couch, ignoring Kurama's disgusted look. He did, however, accept the tissue the other boy held out.

"Thanks."

"Who was that?" Kurama asked.

"That," Yuusuke said with a flourish, "Was **my **lover."

Both of Kurama's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, and rose higher when an irritated voice yelled from the kitchen.

"In your dreams, brat!" Yuusuke gave Kurama a thumbs-up, and Kurama nodded and went back to his paper. After all, Yuusuke's relationships were none of his business.

-------------------------------------------

"Shio-sama!" Yukina gave a very small bow as they entered the kitchen and Kurama was startled by her level of respect. Earlier, when Hiei had yelled to Shio, he had not used an honorific at all, yet Yukina used 'sama'?

"Yukina, I told you, you don't have to call me that." The person standing in front of the stove had sauce splattered on the front of his shirt, and what looked like flower on his black pants, but Kurama was struck by his sheer beauty. Having those dark eyes on him made his stomach lurch and butterflies break out in his gut.

"Kurama-san, I would like you to meet Shio Yamatoya." Yukina smiled warmly at the man. Kurama stared for only a moment before he noticed the awkward silence.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Yamatoya-san." Kurama's bow was slightly lower than Yukina's had been. After all, he was a guest.

"Likewise. Just call me Shio." Something in the way Shio spoke struck Kurama as rather odd, but it would have been rude to ask just then. The shorter man gave a sudden curse and Kurama blinked at the foreign word. It was not Japanese.

"Nii-san!" Yukina burst out, and Shio dropped the wooden spoon with another curse.

"Yeah?" He asked as he turned the tap on and stuck his burnt finger under the cold water. Kurama was momentarily distracted by the sliver of skin between the bottom of his shirt and his pants.

"You go get dressed for dinner," Yukina ordered sternly. "I will finish this!" Shio looked as if he was ready to protest, but a sharp look from Yukina had him sighing in defeat.

"Yes, mother." He said, and he ruffled her hair as he passed. Yukina smiled fondly at the gesture, and then noticed that Kurama was still there.

"Oh! Kurama-san! I'm sorry that dinner is taking so long!" She smiled again. "Shio-san is a bad cook, I'm afraid."

"I gathered as much," Kurama said dryly.

------------------------------

"I can too cook," Shio muttered as he shut the bathroom door. He took a glance in the mirror and grimaced. _Damn. I look like shit._ He roughly pulled off the T-shirt and tossed it in the corner. He'd get the stains out later. It wasn't as if he liked that shirt. He only put it on because he did not want to remain shirtless in front of that Urameshi boy.

"He's fucking lucky he's a guest," Shio growled as his pants joined the shirt in the corner. The nerve of that brat! Kissing him without his permission. It was a sloppy kiss, too. No skill at all! And that comment about the riding crop… Shio paused as a shiver went down his spine.

"Down boy." He muttered. "It's not _that_ much of a turn-on." Okay, that was a lie. Stupid kid.

Completely naked, and not at all worried about the unlocked door, Shio turned on the water and twisted it to hot. He reached behind to undo his braid, and then decided against it. His hair would take forever to dry and he did not have that much time. He opened the cabinet to retrieve his shampoo and froze when he saw the mirror. Actually, he more froze when he saw who was _reflected_ in the mirror. Slowly, as if hoping the mirror was trying to trick him, he looked over his shoulder. Nope. Yuusuke was still standing there, with his mouth open and a stunned look on his face.

"…Can I help you?" Shio asked. Yuusuke did not appear to hear his question. No, he was too busy staring.

"Yuusuke!" This time, the boy jumped and his gaze snapped up to Shio's face. The naked man smiled sweetly.

"Could you shut the door?" He asked. Unbeknownst to Yuusuke, two entities had appeared on each of Shio's shoulders.

"Sex!" Said the mini-devil version of Shio. The devil version wore a pair of red leather pants with rips in them and carried a pitchfork in one hand. The angel version on Shio's shoulder wore leather as well, only it was white and the pants were intact.

"Kill him!" It screamed. Shio frowned. Should he go with the devil's advice, or the angel's? His decision was made when Yuusuke took a step forward and start to shut the door. Kill him.

"LEAVE THE FUCKING ROOM FIRST!!!" He yelled, and he snatched up a heavy bottle of shampoo, preparing to beat Yuusuke's head in with it. Fortunately, Yuusuke was a quick enough thinker to realize that staying in an enclosed area with a pissed off Shio was pretty stupid.

"Sorry!" The dark-haired boy backpedaled through the still open door and pulled it shut behind him. A door shook as something slammed against it. Probably the bottle Shio had been holding.

"And stay out!" Shio yelled through the door. Yuusuke looked down at the front of his jeans and grimaced. Talk about a serious need for a cold shower.

Shio furiously ripped back the shower curtain and stuck a hand under the spray. It was hot. After a moment's thought, he turned it to cold.

------------------------------

"Yuusuke-san? Did you find the bathroom?" Yukina asked as she set the table. Yuusuke turned an odd shade of red and nodded.

"I found it, all right." He heard someone make an amused noise and turned to see Hiei walking into the room carrying a large bowl. The smell wafting from it was enough to make his mouth water and he eagerly followed the other boy to the table to see what was being served.

"Miso soup?" He asked. Hiei nodded and disappeared into the kitchen again.

"Wait until we eat, Yuusuke," Kurama said as he appeared with a small platter of sushi rolls. Yuusuke stuck his tongue out at the red head and reached for one as soon as his back was turned.

"Touch those and die." The irritated growl came from the stairs behind him. Yuusuke winced.

------------------------

Dinner was a rather interesting affair. Out of the five people seat at the table, only one appeared to be in any sort of mood that resembled cheerful. In fact, the hostility was so thick, it was surprising that no one had choked on it. Let's put it into perspective.

The first argument was the seating arrangement. Yuusuke wanted to be next to Shio, Shio wanted to be as far away from him as possible, Hiei and Kurama wanted to be on opposite ends, yet Hiei did not want Kurama anywhere near Yukina or Shio. The result?

Shio sat at the head of the table, with Kurama and Yukina on either side of him. Next to Yukina sat Hiei, and Yuusuke sat next to Kurama. Thus, the world was at peace, for about thirty seconds.

"Hiei, put the knife down." Shio ordered. Hiei held his gaze challengingly for a tense moment before he gently placed the knife next to his plate.

"Yuusuke, eat your food properly." Yuusuke made a face and sucked the rest of his egg roll into his mouth. He had been attempting to eat it in a suggestive manner, but the only response he got from Shio was a look of mild disgust.

"So, Minamino-san?" Shio asked Kurama politely as he placed a small bowl of ice cream in front of the red-haired boy.

"Yes, Yamatoya-san?"

"I heard that you were tutoring Hiei." Shio asked as he sipped his tea. "I wanted to meet the brave soul who undertook such a task."

"Brave? You mean fucking annoying!" Hiei grumbled. He received three sharp looks and sank deeper into his chair. Yuusuke was too busy smothering laughter and he received a sharp smack on the back of the head from Shio as he walked by.

"Watch your language, Hiei," Shio snapped as he sat down in his chair.

"I'm tutoring Hiei in Chemistry," Kurama said, and he ignored the glare that Hiei leveled on him. It was true, was it not? He was tutoring him, so Hiei could not get angry with him for being honest.

"Ah." Shio set his chopsticks down and leaned forward. His face was expressionless, but those eyes held a strange gleam.

"Shio, Yuusuke wants more ice cream!" Hiei said, his voice unnaturally high. Shio's gaze switched from Kurama to Yuusuke's bowl, which was nearly full. A silver eyebrow rose and Hiei hoped that he was simply being paranoid. Like Kurama, Hiei noticed the look on Shio's face, but unlike Kurama, Hiei had known Shio long enough to interpret it. Shio was about to say something that would most likely embarrass and scar him for the rest of his life. A smirk curved at the corner of Shio's mouth and Hiei nearly fainted in horror.

"Hiei, what's this I hear about…miniskirts?" The entire table froze. Well, the entire table excluding Yuusuke, who once again was smothering laughter. Hiei, after a few seconds of processing this question, sighed in relief. That was not embarrassing for him, just Kurama. He could handle that.

"Miniskirts?" Kurama managed to choke out. His face went from unnaturally pale to a bright red when Shio grinned at him.

"I didn't expect Hiei to act so…quickly," Shio said, and he leaned forward so that he could reach into his back pocket.

"Quickly?! I-I don't know what you're…" Kurama trailed off as Shio pulled a square piece of paper out of his pocket.

"Really? Then perhaps you could explain this?" The paper was held up and Hiei stood up so quickly that he knocked his chair over. Yukina flushed and put a hand to her mouth in shock. Yuusuke had given up hiding his laughter and was leaning back in his chair. Kurama, well, Kurama was seriously hoping for either a bolt of lightening to strike him, or for the photograph to burst into flames.

_So that's what happened to that picture_. Instead of making copies and handing them out to the entire population, Yuusuke had done something far worse. He had given it to Shio. There it was. The cursed photograph. It was worse than he had first thought. The position was suggestive enough. Hiei was straddling Kurama's waist, his hands on Kurama's chest, although for real they had been making the journey to his neck in order to strangle him. Kurama's own hands were on the inside of Hiei's thighs. As he remember it, he had been meaning to do something very painful involving his hands and Hiei's bits. _The little prick would have enjoyed it._ Kurama thought bitterly.

"My little Hiei. All grown up and having sex in empty classrooms!" Shio pretended to wipe away a tear.

"WHAT?! THAT'S NOT WHAT WE WERE DOING!!!" Hiei had finally recovered from his shock and he leapt forward to snatch the picture out of Shio's hands. The older man was anticipating something like that, so he switched the picture to his left hand. His right hand latched onto Hiei's shirt and, using the boy's momentum, he pulled him forward into a headlock.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" Hiei snarled as he fought to free himself from Shio's hold, but the small man had always been unnaturally strong, and his hold did not loosen.

"If it's not what it seems," Shio said casually, "Then what were you doing?" There was silence for a moment before Yuusuke broke it.

"They were definitely wanting to fuck!" He said as he rose out of his chair and walked to the end of the table. He leaned over Shio and pointed at the picture.

"See that? Right there?" Shio studied the area where Yuusuke was pointing, and his face broke into a wide grin.

"I knew it!" He starting laughing and Hiei wrenched his way out of the headlock.

"Let me see!" He peered at the spot where Yuusuke had pointed and stared for nearly a minute. Kurama had not moved, nor said anything. No, he was waiting for whatever it was to register. Yukina had fled the room a few moments ago, and he was considering following her example.

Suddenly, a look of horror washed over Hiei's face, and the short boy's red eyes pinned Kurama with an enraged look.

"YOU BASTARD!!!"

"Hiei, you've got one, too," Shio pointed out mildly. Hiei turned a dark red and began sputtering all sorts of denials.

"He has a what?" Kurama asked, not really sure if he wanted to know. Shio's mischievous gaze switched from Hiei to Kurama and the smirk on his face had turned positively evil.

"It seems that fighting makes you very happy, Minamino-san," He said as he held out the picture. Kurama stared at it blankly. Happy? He stared at his face. No, that was definitely a look of murderous hatred. Where did Shio find happiness?

"I'm very sorry, but I do not understand." Shio rolled his eyes and muttered something about clueless children before the picture was snatched away by an irate Hiei.

"Die!" He hissed as he ripped the picture into segments and then ran into the kitchen with them. A few seconds later they heard a loud cackling accompanied by the beeping of the smoke detector.

"Damn!" Yuusuke grumbled. "That was my only copy!"

"I hope he didn't get ashes all over the counter," Shio sighed as he left the table. Kurama was still staring blankly at his plate, trying to figure out what everyone saw in that photo. Sure, it was rather…suggestive, but certainly not happy.

"Damn it, Hiei! Clean this up!"

He had looked murderous.

"You clean it up!"

Hiei had looked no better.

"Don't talk back to your elders, brat!"

Perhaps he had not seen the entire picture?

"Don't call me a brat, girly-boy!"

Or perhaps he had looked at the wrong part?

"I am very masculine!"

There had to be something else to it…

"Are you sure you're not a girl?"

Something…

"Why you!!!!!"

CRASH!

"Look what you did! Jackass!"

"Pipsqueak!"

"Whore!"

"Goth!"

"Slut!"

"Shrimp!"

"Cock Sucker!"

"Spikey-haired midget!"

Breaking out of his thoughts, Kurama sighed and made his way to the kitchen to find Hiei and Shio rolling around on the floor, biting and punching at one another.

"SHIO! HIEI! STOP! NOW!" Kurama was startled by the loud yell behind him. Yukina had appeared behind him and the expression on her face was nothing short of livid. On the floor, Hiei and Shio stared up at her with equal expressions of guilt. Shio had a busted lip and Hiei was sporting what promised later to be a very impressive black eye.

"Yukina! Hi!" Shio smiled cheerfully and received a sharp elbow in the ribs from Hiei.

"What happened?" Yukina asked with an icy calm. Kurama slowly edged away from her.

"Well…" Shio looked around for frantically for a second before he pointed at Hiei. "It's his fault!"

"Hiei?" Yukina asked, dropping any affectionate honorific. The girl had completely transformed from a sweet maiden into an icy demon. Scary. From what Kurama could tell, Hiei was feeling the affects of his sister's stare and he attempted to look as innocent as possible.

"Shio dropped your favorite plate!" He finally admitted. Yukina's eyes were immediately drawn to the large shards of glass that were scattered about the kitchen. A shard had embedded itself into Shio's right arm and blood was slowly trickling down his hand. The silver-haired man had yet to notice, however.

"My plate?" Yukina instantly knelt down and began collecting the shards and Kurama, who had instantly felt sympathy for her, knelt down as well to help her. Hiei went to work as well and Shio, who had finally noticed the blood pooling under his hand, left the room to clean his wound.

"My mother has a set just like this." Kurama said suddenly as he held part of the plate in his hands.

"It is my favorite," Yukina said shyly as she picked up more shards.

"I could get you a replacement, if you'd like." He offered tentatively. Instantly, Yukina's face lit up and smiled brightly at him.

"Are you sure? That's wonderful!" Instead of picking up the rest of the glass, she ordered Hiei to sweep it up as she led Kurama out of the room. The short boy shot Kurama a dark glare and began sweeping a little more forcibly than necessary. As Yukina led Kurama past the stairs, they heard an a furious scream, followed closely by an agonized yelp.

"GET OUT!" A few seconds later, Yuusuke came flying down the stairs, turning sharply at the bottom to avoid the hall table that came flying down after him. He zoomed past Kurama and Yukina, and a second later the front door slammed shut.

"What was that?" Hiei stepped out of the kitchen and eyed the broken table curiously.

"How dare he?!" All eyes turned to Shio, who was descending the stairs holding a…machete…in his left hand.

"Shio-san? What happened?" Yukina asked, and she did not appear concerned by the knife that glinted wickedly in Shio's hand.

"That…That bastard! I'll fucking kill him! Beg pardon." Shio added when Yukina gasped at his language.

"Yuusuke, I take it?" Kurama asked in amusement.

"Yuusuke…WILL DIE!!!" With that final outburst, Shio turned and stormed past Hiei. A second later, the back door slammed shut. There was a stunned silence for a few moments before Kurama looked pointedly at Hiei.

"That was…eventful." He said slowly. Hiei shrugged.

"Yuusuke still has his limbs. That's saying something."

That's the end of this chapter! I hope you liked it! I finally decided to finish it. Hopefully, once I graduate, I'll be able to do more in the way of writing. Right now it's just a little too stressful to do any good writing. Oh well. Thanks to all my reviewers! I know that this chapter had a lot of Shio in it, but he is going to be one of the main characters in this fic, so I needed to properly introduce him. Anyway, it will get back to the Hiei/Kurama soon enough!


	7. Underage

Citizen: Do the disclaimer!

Shio: No.

Citizen: Please?

Shio: Let me think about it….No!

Citizen: Fine! In my next fic, you're going to be celibate!

Shio: C-Ce-Celibate?!!?

Citizen/evil grin/ Celibate as a doorknob!

Shio: Doorknobs can have sex?

Citizen:…………..Do the damn disclaimer!

Shio/sigh/ Citizen Cobalt does not own YYH, although she does own me…Which is why I am Hiei's guardian in this fic instead of the sexy stranger who offers him candy filled with an aphrodisiac so I can have my wonderfully wicked way with him. /evil perverted grin/

Citizen: You awful perverted man!

Shio/shrug/ You made me that way. By the way, a few Naruto characters may pop up in here, and Citizen doesn't own them either.

Citizen: Gaara! No/cries/

Shio/pats Citizen on the back/ Gaara is hot, but at least you've got me!

Citizen:…………………..

Shio/hits Citizen/ What the hell is the silence for?!

Citizen: On with the chapter/Sniffle/

Shio: By the way, this fic has yaoi and stuff like that in it, so if it offends you…too bad. And I noticed that even though Kurama introduces himself as Shuuichi, people call him Kurama. Well, that's just how it's going to go.

--- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Chapter 7

Monday morning dawned bright and early. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and all was right in the world.

"SHUT UP! GODDAMN BIRDS!!!" An empty bottle flung out the window smacked one of the cute, sweet, innocent, fluffy birdies and sent it plummeting into the bushes below. The other birds took the hint and hightailed it out of there.

All was right with most of the world, anyway.

Hiei groaned and buried his head under the pillows. He hated mornings. He hated birds. He hated hangovers.

"WAKIE, WAKIE, SUNSHINE!!!" And most of all, Hiei hated bright, loud, obnoxious, hot, apron-wearing guardians.

"I MADE BREAKFAST!!! WAKE UP!!!" Hiei whimpered and clapped his hands over his ears.

"Why are you so loud?" He asked through gritted teeth and Shio smiled brightly down at him. The silver haired man was grinning just a little too happily for six thirty in the morning. Come to think of it, Shio was never up at six in the morning. What was going on?

"WHY AM I SO LOUD?!" Shio was almost yelling at him and the sound made Hiei's head pound.

"I'LL TELL YOU! SOMEONE DECIDED TO BREAK INTO MY LIQUOR STASH LAST NIGHT AND, IF I AM CORRECT, THEY ARE CURRENTLY SUFFERING FROM A PAINFUL HANGOVER! AM I CORRECT?!"

"Leave me alone!" Hiei grabbed the closest thing, his alarm clock, and threw it at the smirking man. Luckily for Shio, Hiei's aim was never the best in the morning, and it whizzed harmlessly past his head.

"Nope! Sorry!" Shio abandoned the yelling and grabbed Hiei's visible ankle and began pulling the boy out of his bed. Hiei reacted quickly and grabbed hold of his bed post.

"He who gets drunk on a school night must suffer the consequences!" Shio said cheerfully as he tugged harder on Hiei's feet.

"Fuck you." Hiei growled.

"You're underage, I can't!" Shio pretended to look appalled as he let go of Hiei's ankles.

"Go away." Hiei made the mistake of relaxing and before he knew it, Shio had grabbed his ankle again and pulled him off the bed.

"Ow!" Hiei hit the floor with a dull thud and instantly curled up into a ball. His head was pounding and his stomach was threatening to force up whatever it still held.

"C'mon, Hiei." Shio said as he gently unwrapped the boy from his blanket. Hiei allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and led out of his room to the bathroom. Instantly, he felt his stomach rebelling and he stumbled over to the toilet.

"That's what you get." Shio said smugly, but he held Hiei's hair out of his face as he retched. The poor boy was a mess and Shio felt a small pang of guilt for waking him up so harshly. Still, he should have known not to get drunk when he knew full well that he had school the next morning.

"Take a shower," He told Hiei as he rubbed his back in a soothing circular motion. "I'll make something to help with your hangover."

"Hn." Hiei grunted as he coughed up the last of his stomach contents.

--- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Kurama eyed Hiei's empty seat with annoyance. Great. His lab partner was missing. How irritating.

----Author interruption!!!-----

In case anyone wants to know, here are Kurama and Hiei's schedules!

Kurama---He is more of a scientist.

1st period Algebra

2nd period Biology

3rd period English

Lunch

4th period Chemistry

5th period Phys Ed.

6th period History

7th period Study Hall

8th period Calculus

Hiei---Will be an Art major.

1st period History

2nd period English

3rd period Geometry

Lunch

4th period Chemistry

5th period Phys Ed.

6th period Art

7th period Study Hall (in a different room than Kurama)

8th period Graphic Design

-----------End Author Interruption------------

"I see your lab partner is missing." The teacher frowned as she looked at Hiei's empty seat.

"Apparently so, sensei." Kurama sighed.

"We're not doing anything today that requires partners, so consider yourself lucky." She moved on and Kurama glared at Hiei's chair.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

On reflex, Kurama looked around the entire gym before he dared to step inside. Hiei had taken up the hobby of trying to knock Kurama's head off with a volleyball whenever he could. Therefore, Kurama had to be constantly alert, lest he suffer a repeat of the first gym class.

"Minamino." A deep voice addressed him and Kurama turned to look at the speaker. The boy standing in front of him was a few inches shorter, with a slim physique like his own. The baggy black pants and the black shirt with the mesh overlay made a startling contrast against pale skin. Following the slender neck up to the face, Kurama was met with startling green-blue eyes framed by heavy black eyeliner. The face was handsome enough, with a dangerously beautiful quality. The fiery red, short, messy hair did not cover the kanji tattoo on his forehead. The symbol for love. Okay….

"May I help you?" He asked politely. The boy had a slight glare on his face that reminded Kurama painfully of Hiei. What was this boy's name again?

"Sabaku Gaara." The boy said tonelessly. Oh. So that was why the name sounded familiar. Gaara Sabaku was the name of the recently acquitted child murderer. He had been accused of murdering his entire family, but had been let off, even though everyone knew that he did it. Why was Sabaku talking to him?

"Have you seen Hiei?" Gaara asked.

"Why?" Kurama asked suspiciously. Whether or not Gaara was a murderer, he was still bad news and Kurama was instantly suspicious of his intentions.

"Never mind." Gaara turned on his heel and walked away, ignoring the classmates who scrambled to get out of his way. Kurama frowned as he watched him go. What did Gaara want with Hiei?

--- --- --- --- --- ---

Shio gently nudged Hiei awake and the dark haired boy groaned and rolled over. A few more nudges, and he had a grumpy Hiei glaring at him.

"What?" He growled. Shio held out the steaming cup of tea and Hiei accepted it gratefully. He sipped it and made a face.

"This tastes like shit." He grumbled. Shio ran a hand through Hiei's messy hair and smiled.

"It works, though. Once you're done, go back to sleep. I'll go to the school to collect your assignments. Okay?" Hiei nodded and continued sipping the foul tasting tea.

--- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Kurama dialed in Hiei's phone number and waited patiently for someone to pick up? How did he know Hiei's number? Well, the benefit of being the perfect wonderful student is that you have access to absolutely everything. Namely, personal student files.

Beep "Hello, you've reached the Yamatoya residence, you lucky person! I'm out performing demonic rituals, but leave a message and I'll call you back. And if you leave a sexy message, I'll call back soo-Ow! Hiei! Give me the phone! I'm setting the message you little-!" Beep Kurama sweatdropped when he heard Shio's message.

"Hiei, this is Kurama. I am calling to harass you for missing Chemistry, and to tell you that Sabaku Gaara is looking for you. How many people are you going to piss off this year?" He hung up the phone, satisfied with his message.

"Yamatoya-san!" Mrs. Huruka, the secretary, suddenly squealed.

"Huruka-chan! You're looking lovelier than ever! Is that a new blouse?" Shio suddenly appeared next to him as if out of nowhere. Huruka blushed and began messing with her hair.

"Why yes! I can't believe you noticed!" Kurama eyed the usually stoic secretary with interest. He had never seen her so flustered, it was almost ridiculous.

"What can I do for you today?" She positively simpered. Even though she acting extremely pathetic, Kurama could understand why Shio affected her so much. The man radiated sex, how could anyone keep their head straight? Straight in the sense of not acting funny, not straight in the…never mind…

"I'm here to pick up assignments for Jaganashi Hiei." Huruka went into a flurry of motion and in seconds had produced a small stack of papers.

"Here they are! The second I noticed that Hiei was missing, I made sure to get his assignments for the day!"

"Thanks, Huruka-chan! What would I ever do without you?" Shio smiled widely at her and she turned a bright shade of red.

"Kurama-san? Are you coming?" Kurama found himself being dragged out of the office by Shio. Once the door had closed behind them, Shio turned to Kurama.

"What's up?"

"How did you do that?" Kurama asked. He had to know.

"Oh, that? Women love a hot man who is also charming." Shio said. "I mean, just look at James Bond! He had everyone! Why? Because he was hot and charming! Not to mention he had gadgets, was a cool spy, and because he was just ultra-cool!" Shio paused in the middle of his rant to ruffle through the papers.

"Yamatoya-san." They both froze at the deep voice. Kurama turned and winced. Sabaku Gaara was leaning casually against the nearby wall, glaring at the both of them.

"Sabaku." Kurama nodded respectfully. Shio, however, was silent. Kurama looked at the man curiously when Shio said nothing.

"S-Sabaku!" Kurama blinked. Did he just hear Shio stutter? That couldn't be right. A look at the man confused Kurama even more. Shio's cheeks were rapidly turning a bright red and he was staring at Gaara with his mouth slightly open.

"Where is Hiei?" Gaara asked.

"H-Hiei? He's sick! Y-Yes! Sick!" Kurama eyed Shio suspiciously. What was up with him?

"I see." Gaara turned to walk away, but he paused when Shio spoke.

"Sabaku!" He slowly looked over his shoulder at Shio.

"Y-You're welcome to dinner tonight, if you like!" Kurama stared at Shio openly now. Dinner? What? There was a tense silence before Gaara nodded.

"I accept."

"O-Okay! See you later!" Gaara continued walking, signaling that the conversation was over. Shio stared at his back until he turned the corner. Kurama, in turn, stared at Shio. The man was oddly flushed, and he was breathing rather hard.

"Shio-san?" Shio jerked out of his daze and broke into a coughing fit. Kurama patted him on the back awkwardly.

"Sorry you had to see that." Shio said as he recovered.

"What was that, exactly?" Shio sighed.

"That," He said calmly. "Was a display of my wonderful fucking crush on Sabaku Gaara."

"…You're joking, right?" Shio looked around nervously before he grabbed Kurama's arm.

"Let's go somewhere else to discuss this." Kurama obediently followed Shio until they were off school grounds.

"Okay, to put it bluntly, IkindasleptwithGaaraandnowIhaveamadcrushonhim!"

"Say that a little slower, please?"

"I kinda slept with Gaara and now I have a mad crush on him," Shio admitted in a low voice.

"I see." Kurama said for lack of anything else to say. No, he did not see. Wait…it was coming to him…

"You did what?!"

"Be quiet!" Shio hissed. "I thought he was eighteen, alright?!"

"How the hell did you end up sleeping with him?!"

"He was hot and he came onto me! I had nothing to do with it! Other than being totally hot myself. I mean, who wouldn't come onto me, honestly. And he did it in the most delightfully hot, rough, demanding, forceful, dominant, sexy…why the hell am I telling you this? It's none of your business!"

"You do realize you're a pedophile, right?" Kurama asked dryly. Shio froze.

"Holy shit…I am! I mean, I'm not too bad of one, right! I thought he was eighteen! And granted, he never gave me an opportunity to ask, come to think of it…What if he's younger than he looks?! What if he's a six foot ten year old! What if he tells someone and I got jail for the rest of my life?! Who will take care of Hiei and Yukina? I'm certainly not fit for the job! And to think I was perfectly sober at the time, too!"

"Shio…I'm pretty sure Gaara is not going to tell anyone." Shio halted mid-rant.

"What makes you so sure? And why the hell did I tell you all this?!" Kurama shrugged.

"How old are you anyway?"

"Twenty-five."

"You look like you're sixteen, I'm sure Gaara thought he was raping a poor, innocent, sexy, underage kid."

"No way…you think I'm sexy?" Kurama froze and his face heated up as he tried to formulate a response.

"What…No…Yes…well, you're attractive, but I don't…!" Shio waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't you worry, everyone thinks I'm hot." Shio paused to think about that for a moment.

"Hell, even Hiei thinks I'm hot, although from what I hear, he's busy chasing after a hot little thing from his school."

"What?!" Kurama stopped walking. Hiei? Chasing after someone? There was no way. Kurama had to know who it was so that he could get back to his original plan that had involved ruining Hiei's life forever! How had he gotten so sidetracked?

"Really?" He tried to ask casually. "Who?"

Shio shrugged, although the evil smirk on his face had Kurama convinced that he knew more than he let on.

"If I tell, it will ruin all that fun! Now, about Gaara. You won't tell?"

"I won't tell."

"Good, because I would hate to have to send Hiei after you. Come to think of it, he'll probably kill me if he finds out that I had sex with his best friend."

"Best friend?"

"Yeah! Didn't you know?" Shio tsked softly. "You don't make a very good stalker, Kurama-chan."

"I'm a lousy stalker, and you're a pedophile. What's your point." Shio sighed.

"Why do you keep bringing that up? He made the first move! Hell, he even topped! Quite viciously, I might add. I was sore for two days after that guy…Are you alright?"

Kurama waved off Shio's concern. He was fine. Yeah, he was only choking on his own saliva and seriously considering therapy. Why did his life have to be the one to get screwed up?

--- --- --- --- --- -- ---

A few blocks away, Gaara sneezed. He glared at the sidewalk. Some one was talking about him again. He was sure of it.

------------------------

So…like it? Hate it? Personally, I don't really care if you hate it. I love Gaara, and as much as I would love to have him and Shio be paired in this, Yuusuke came first, so it shall be Yuusuke/Shio! With a side of Gaara/Shio, of course. Don't worry, Hiei and Kurama shall be taking a larger part of the next chapters. I don't even know where this 'Shio having already slept with Gaara' thing came up. I just typed. Yeah. Anyway, Gaara is not going to turn into some crazy psycho stalker, he'll just be Gaara. And in case any one is wondering, Gaara definitely was top. I mostly pictured him as that type. Thanks to all my reviewers and I do not like flames! Constructive criticism is nice, though.


	8. Trouble

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Naruto. I do, however, own Shio and I will be uber-pissed if anyone tries using him without my permission. Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Note, I am trying to make this more Kurama/Hiei, but this is all for plot development. Besides, I find that if I don't have several different things going on in the fic, I get bored and I don't finish it. This fic has yaoi. You've been warned.

-----------------

During the next few days, Kurama found himself becoming more and more aware of what went on around him. More aware of select things, to be correct. Things to do with Hiei, to be even more correct. Never before in the two weeks of stalking Hiei had he noticed that Hiei always carried a tattered notebook around with him, alongside the Official Hn Dictionary. Never had he noticed that for some reason, Hiei always had two pencils with him. One would be long and perfectly sharpened, and the other would be halfway used and dull. He had never noticed that Hiei had a small scar on the back of his neck that, went looked at from an angle, looked like the kanji for turnip. He also noticed that Hiei's hair was always in a perpetual state of disarray. Did the boy not know what a comb was? The crazy arrangement of Hiei's hair made Kurama want to clutch his red locks protectively to shield them from the messy hair vibes.

"Turnip?" Come to think of it, his hair had been rather stubborn as of late. Perhaps hanging out with Mr. Turnip Scar had affected his hair? Heaven forbid his charming personality be affected, too. What if he began speaking in monosyllables?

"Turnip?" And why, of all things, did Hiei keep repeating the word 'turnip'?

"What?" Kurama asked, and he gave the short freshman a look of haughty disdain. His expression instantly changed when he noticed Hiei's right hand creeping towards the beaker of acid that set near them.

"Why do you keep muttering turnip?" Hiei demanded. Kurama gave Hiei his best clueless expression.

"Turnip? What do you mean? You must be hearing things!" Smiling at Hiei's dark look, he moved the beaker deliberately out of his reach.

"It's okay, Hiei. I already know that you're crazy." He would have patted Hiei on the head, but for some reason, the short boy had rather noticeable canines and he rather enjoyed having ten fingers. Besides, he'd probably impale his hand on the crazy spikes of hair.

"By the way, I was able to collect money from about 50 students before the principal threatened to expel me for potential organized prostitution."

"What?" Kurama stared at Hiei, who was busy scribbling something in that ratty notebook of his.

"You need to cut your hair; it's affecting your hearing."

"No! What the hell did you mean by that?!" Hiei paused and flipped through a few pages before he turned the notebook so Kurama could see the pages.

"These are the names of all the people who would like to see you in a mini-skirt. I trust you won't let them down?"

A few hours later, Kurama felt a little guilty for what he did. After all, Hiei was so much shorter than him. But at that moment, it felt so good to feel his fist connecting with that smug face.

"Fuck!" Hiei was pushed off his stool by the force of Kurama's punch, but the shorter boy was back up in a second and had tackled him. Kurama's breath was knocked out of him as Hiei's fist drove into his stomach, but he didn't really care. All he cared about was causing the little bastard as much harm as possible. Unfortunately, Hiei had the same idea.

"Aaghh!" Kurama howled as he felt those damn sharp teeth sinking into his right hand and he retaliated by kneeing Hiei hard in the chest. The shorter boy growled in pain and released Kurama's hand.

"Stop this at once!" The two were pulled apart by several teachers, even though they tried hard to stay connected in order to deliver more damage. Hiei had a bloody nose and a bruise forming on his left cheek, and Kurama sported a busted lip and his hand was bleeding from the bite wound. Trust Hiei to use those damn sharp teeth.

"Fuck you," Kurama muttered as they were escorted to the principal's office.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Hiei shot back.

------------------

Beep "Hello, you've reached the Yamatoya residence, you lucky person! I'm out performing demonic rituals, but leave a message and I'll call you back. And if you leave a sexy message, I'll call back soo-Ow! Hiei! Give me the phone! I'm setting the message you little-!" Beep

"…Hello, this is Haruka-chan from Saryasic High School. We would like to inform Shio-chan that his son, Hiei Jaganashi, is in the office. If you could please come to pick him up-"

"Woah! Shit!" Shio tried to leap out of his bed for the phone; however, since he slept in a hammock, he only managed to be dumped on the floor.

"Hello?!" He snatched the phone off the ringer before Haruka could finish her message.

"Shio-chan! Oh, Hiei has been sent to the office for fighting! He's in danger of expulsion! You have to get down here immediately!" Haruka wailed dramatically into the phone.

"Fighting? Is that all? I'll be right down." He hung up and groaned. _Great. I haven't washed any of my normal clothing._ He lifted his head to look around his messy room. The only clean clothing was hanging up in his closet, and he sure as hell could not wear leather and fishnets to Hiei's school. That was reserved for work._ Although showing up in that might get the little brat out of trouble…_ Hell, the principal would probably give Hiei a total clean record if Shio showed up a few times in leather.

"Even if most school officials are perverts, I had better not risk it." He turned away from the inviting closet and sighed as he began searching for some normal clothing.

-------------------

"Midget."

"Girl."

"Loser."

"Wimp."

"Hobbit."

"Transvestite."

"Man-whore."

"Slut."

"Goth."

"Cheerleader."

"Weirdo."

"Cock-sucker."

"Dickless."

"Goose."

"What?" Kurama was startled out of his next clever insult by Hiei's.

"I win." Hiei smirked and folded his arms over his chest.

"You did not! What kind of an insult is goose?!"

"The foulest insult known to mankind." Hiei snapped.

"Goose…"

"Hn."

"You're weird."

"Ask Shio about the geese." Hiei said before he fell silent and refused to answer any more of Kurama's questions.

"The two of you may go in, now." Haruka said, and they rose to enter the principal's office. Principal Iwamouri was a middle-aged man with light brown hair tinged with grey. As a young man, he had been attractive, but he was rapidly leaving his prime state and a few wrinkles had started to appear. More were likely to show up after this encounter, he could tell.

"Okay, boys. Would you mind telling me why you're in here?" Kurama folded his hands in his lap and tried his best to take on the appearance of an innocent, intelligent, and absolutely non-bloody teenager.

"Hiei attacked me, sir." Hiei shot Kurama a sharp sideways glance.

"You threw the first punch."

"You were trying to whore me out to people!"

"They've already paid! You can't let your fucking adoring fans down!"

"Fuck you, Hiei!"

"Boys!" The two young men quietly sank back into their chairs. During their brief shouting match, they'd stood up in order to stare each other in the eyes. Sort-of.

"Kurama, watch your language. And Hiei, I already told you that prostitution on school grounds is illegal and you are already on grounds for expulsion for trying to organize it."

"Hn." Mr. Iwamouri rubbed his temples in frustration.

"I'm sure you both know that fighting is not allowed on school grounds."

"Yes, sir."

"Kurama, I've already notified your parents, and Hiei, Ms. Haruka notified your guardian a few minutes ago and I believe he's on his way in." The corner of Hiei's mouth drew up into a small smirk.

"Kurama, because this is your first offense, I'm going to give you a lighter punishment. Hiei, on the other hand…" The principal laced his fingers together and stared at Hiei over the rims of his glasses. Hiei glared back.

"Unless your guardian can deliver a real reason for you to stay, I'm afraid I'll have to expel you…"

-------------------

Yuusuke whistled a merry tune as he strolled down the hallway with his hands in his pockets. Why was he so happy? Well, it was his first day back from his terrible illness, known to the world as laziness, and he was looking forward to catching up on the local gossip. Namely, gossip concerning his favorite stalker and stalkee. Kurama and Hiei. The Rose and the Dragon. The…he couldn't think of any more adjectives.

"Life is good. Life is great! Life is…huh?" Yuusuke slowed to a stop. A ratty black tennis shoe had just fallen to the floor in front of him. He picked it up and inspected it carefully. It was still warm, so it was either self-warming, or someone had just been wearing it.

"Excuse me. I need that."

"Oh, sorry." Yuusuke placed the shoe in the hand that was dangling down in front of his face.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Picking up the tune again, Yuusuke strolled along for about three seconds before it came to him.

"What the fuck?!"

-----------------

Mr. Iwamouri frowned as dust trickled down onto his clean desk from the ceiling. He sighed. How bothersome. What's the point of keeping his desk clean if even the ceiling was against its neatness.

-----------------

"Mind telling me what you're doing in the school's ventilation system?!" Yuusuke and Gaara stared each other down with equal hostility. The dark haired boy clutched Gaara's left shoe triumphantly in his hand. He had leapt up to snatch it away while Gaara was putting it back on. Then, with the shoe held hostage, Yuusuke had forced Gaara to direct him to the entrance to the ventilation system. It had been a bit of a squeeze, but Yuusuke was now sitting in the cooling shaft with Gaara.

"None of your business. Give me my shoe."

"No." Yuusuke stuck his tongue out childishly at Gaara. "Why are you up here?"

"Once again. None of your business."

"It's about Hiei, isn't it?" Yuusuke grinned when Gaara's left eyebrow twitched.

"Go away."

"You're a friend of his? I've seen you hanging around him." Yuusuke ignored Gaara's dark glare and began playing with the stolen shoe's laces.

"Go away."

"Or do you have some crazy plan that will get us out of school early? Because if you do, I'm all for it!" Gaara sighed. He just couldn't win.

"Follow me," He growled, and he turned and started crawling away. Behind him, Yuusuke gave a joyous yell and clambered after him.

----------------

"So you see, fighting like this will ruin your future! You need to clear your mind of violence and strive to be peaceful and passive." Mr. Iwamouri preached passionately.

"Sounds fucking boring." Hiei growled. Kurama barely resisted the urge to agree with him.

"Boring?! How can you say peace is boring?! What kind of person is this guardian of yours?" Mr. Iwamouri crossed his arms and scowled at the two boys.

"He's the best." Hiei stated seriously.

"The best. Hmph. I'm going to give this 'Shio Yamatoya' a piece of my mind," The principal grumbled.

"Mr. Iwamouri? Shio-ch-…I mean Yamatoya-san is here." Haruka's voice suddenly crackled over the speaker.

"Excellent, send him in. Kurama, you may go now." Kurama stood and walked out of the room past Shio as he entered. The short man snickered when he caught sight of Kurama's bruised jaw.

"Good afternoon! I'm Shio!" Shio's voice was cut off when the door shut behind him. Kurama sighed and accepted the ice pack the Haruka held out to him.

"Thanks." He mumbled as he left.

----------------

"Y-You see, Yamatoya-san, Hiei has been repeatedly violating school rules and has yet to show any remorse for it!" Hiei watched with great interest as the usually composed principal started to come undone. The man was sweating, he was flushed, and he was tripping over his words. Shio wasn't helping any, if anything; he was purposely causing the reaction. He had a very intense gaze, and it was focused on the poor man without any intention of looking away. Shio was sprawled lazily in the chair next to Hiei, with one leg stretched out do that a sliver of his pale stomach showed. He left hand was resting casually on his thigh and his right was playing with a loose piece of silver hair. Occasionally, his fingers would release the hair and trail along his jaw line and sometimes along his graceful neck. Hiei repressed a smirk when the principal's eyes followed the hand's movements. Shio sure knew how to play with people. Coupled with the faint sexy smile and those dark eyes staring straight at him, the principal was doomed.

"I understand perfectly, Iwamouri-san." Shio said, as if he had been paying attention the entire time. Hiei was not fooled. Shio was twirling the silvery lock between his fingers. He always did that when he was bored and not paying attention.

"I'm glad that you see it my way."

"I do, however…"

"What?"

"Hiei, could you leave us? I'd like to speak to Iwamouri-san in private."

"Hn." Only when Hiei had shut the door behind him did he grin. Iwamouri was screwed.

--------------------

"Move over, I can't hear!" Yuusuke hissed. He shoved himself in beside Gaara so he could put his ear to the vent.

"_You_ _seem like a wonderful guardian, Yamatoya-san_." That was Mr. Iwamouri…

"_Please, call me Shio_."

"Holy shit, Shio's in there?!" Yuusuke gasped. Gaara glanced over and a red eyebrow rose when he noticed Yuusuke's excited expression. A suspicious frown appeared on his face. How did Yuusuke know Shio? The two held their breath as they listened.

"_Have you ever been to Ichirachi's bar? I hear they serve excellent drinks_." Yuusuke sucked in breath.

"That bastard is asking him out! Hell no!" Yuusuke gritted his teeth. He could not kill the principal. But the thought of those old hands any where near Shio's body was making his stomach churn.

"What are you going to do about it?" Gaara asked, even though he was feeling rather sick himself.

"Kill him! That's what I'm going to do!" Yuusuke growled, violent images already filling his mind. Gaara snorted in disbelief.

"Yeah, right. You'd be…" Gaara trailed off as he heard an odd creak. He looked around. It was dark in the ventilation shaft, so he couldn't see much of anything.

"Did you hear that?" Yuusuke stopped his angry grumbling.

"What?"

"Did you hear tha-."

CRUNCH

The two boys froze. That was not a particularly friendly sound. Not at all…

"FUCK!" Yuusuke screamed out as the floor suddenly gave way beneath them.

-------------------

Mr. Iwamouri had seen a few strange things since the start of his career. However, the one thing he had never seen was two boys falling out of his ceiling.

"Holy shit!" Yuusuke landed on Mr. Iwamouri's desk and promptly rolled off onto the floor. Chunks of plaster rained down with him, covering the floor, the desk, and just about everything in the entire office. Gaara, unfortunately for Shio, had been blessed with a slightly softer landing. There was a stunned silence for about ten seconds. And then…

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Mr. Iwamouri roared as he yanked Gaara off of a stunned Shio. The door burst open and Haruka stuck her head in.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Are you alright, Shio?" Mr. Iwamouri was helping Shio to his feet and trying his best to brush the plaster off.

"Oh sure…ignore the guy who broke his back on your desk," Yuusuke groaned. He yelped as he received a sharp kick from Gaara. The red head was glaring at the principal, whose brushing hands were lingering just a bit too long.

"I'm fine, really, I'm fine," Shio gingerly touched his forehead, which was throbbing painfully. Gaara had the same feeling, but he assumed that it was because of the jealousy curling in his stomach, not the aftermath of his recent impact with Shio's head.

"Yuusuke-chan! Are you alright?!" Yuusuke was jerked to his feet by a worried Haruka and she instantly began wiping him off with a lint brush that she pulled out of nowhere.

"Fine. I'm fine!"

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!" Mr. Iwamouri's face was suddenly inches away and Yuusuke felt the urge to lean back.

"Checking the vents?" He said weakly. The principal broke into an angry twitching fit and his face began taking on a purple hue. Over his shoulder, Yuusuke could see Shio standing next to Hiei, who must have returned with Ms. Haruka. Shio was…what was he doing? No, he was not doing that…yes he was…No! Yuusuke felt his stomach clench at the sight of his Shio brushing plaster of a certain someone with his bare hands! And he was standing really close…too close for comfort!

"Pardon me, Mr. Iwamouri." He gently pushed the fuming principal aside and took two steps forward. He took a third step and, with an ear splitting battle cry, he leapt onto Gaara and killed him, manly man style. Shio, upon witnessing Gaara's bloody and overly pathetic death, realized that Yuusuke was the one for him! He leapt into Yuusuke's arms and the two ran off to the nearest empty classroom for hours of hot sex!...No, that was not what happened. Yuusuke sighed. The image was so good in his head. As it was, he stopped dead when Shio gave him an ultra glare of death. The glare of death that said 'do whatever it is you're thinking and I kill you.'

Whatever brought that look on?

------------------

Hiei sank into his seat gratefully and pulled his notebook out of his bag. The art teacher ignored his late arrival, she was used it. Besides, he was the best artist in her class, there was no way she'd reprimand him.

"You're late," Someone whispered and Hiei responded by flicking a ball of paper. The person gave a muffled yelp when it bounced off their forehead.

"Prick." Hiei finally turned to give the girl a flat stare and she stared back without blinking. After a few minutes, Hiei's eyes were watering and the girl was doing no better. Finally, the girl blinked and Hiei smirked in triumph.

"How do you do that?" She grumbled as she rubbed at her dry eyes.

"Magic." Hiei replied dryly as he flipped through his book, looking for an empty page. Beside him, the girl, also known as Aeris, huffed and went back to her watercolor painting. He snickered when every now and then she gave a muffled curse. The red haired girl was a terrific artist, second only to him. Aeris could do almost anything, but put watercolors or pastels in front of her, and she would only succeed in making a mess.

"These watercolors are evil!" The furious shriek, followed by the flight of the watercolors across the room onto the teacher's desk, served as a distraction for the rest of the period. Hiei tapped his chin with his pencil as he stared at the blank page. What to write…?

"No way! Kurama-kun hates flowers! All boys hate flowers!" The mention of Kurama's name pulled Hiei out of his thoughts and he turned his head slightly so that he could listen. A small group of girls were gathered outside the door.

"Of course Kurama-kun likes flowers! He's a real man!" A busty blond girl declared haughtily. The girls around her either broke into protest or agreement, and Hiei almost went back to his work. However, one last statement floated to his ears, and he felt his inner demon returning from vacation to tap him on the shoulder and whisper in his ear.

"No tulips! Kurama-kun is horribly allergic to tulips!"

------------------

"So I was thinking that I could go all manly on him, trap him against a table, and have my way with him! Just like in the movies! And I could…Kurama? You listening?"

"What?" Kurama jerked out of his inner thoughts and stared at Yuusuke with a dazed expression on his face.

"Are you listening?"

"Of course, I am…What were you saying?" Yuusuke glared at him as they made their way to their lockers the next morning. The raven haired boy had shown up outside Kurama's house twenty minutes early, which was something he never did, and then proceeded to talk about Shio the entire way to school. Several times, Kurama had to stop him from going into X-rated details.

"I need your advice!" Yuusuke insisted as they turned into the south hallway.

"Why? You seem to be doing fine."

"No! Now I've got competition!"

"From who?"

"Our damn principal! And I'm suspecting that Gaara kid, too." Kurama almost choked when Yuusuke mentioned the redhead. _If only you knew, Yuusuke._

"I think you're doing fine, Yuusuke. Just ke-ACHOO!" Kurama was cut off in mid sentence by a vicious sneeze. He frowned as he rubbed his nose. _How odd._

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. I ju-ACHOO!" Kurama sneezed again. The roof of his mouth was itching and his eyes were starting to water. Odd.

"How weird." Kurama's nose was blocked and he was close to sneezing again.

"Are you sick?" Kurama shook his head as he twirled the dial on his combination lock. Halfway through, he had to pause as another bout of sneezing overcame him.

"I usually only get like 'dis," Great, his speech was funny, "Around tulips…" Another twirl, and he pulled his locker open. He gasped in alarm as a large bunch of brightly colored flowers cascaded out onto his face.

"ACHOO!" Kurama backed up in shock as he inhaled the wonderful, not to mention awful, fragrance of the flowers. Tulips. An entire bunch of tulips had been stuffed into his locker. He was lightheaded already.

"Kurama! There's a note!" Yuusuke had to shout to make himself heard of Kurama's sneezing. A large crowd had gathered, and a few people were laughing at Kurama's predictament.

"A note?" Kurama snatched the paper out of Yuusuke's hands and glared. He recognized that handwriting.

_Hope you like the flowers. Since you're so fond of them, I'll make sure that your miniskirt has floral print._

Underneath the writing was a small picture. Kurama's glare became even more pronounced. A very well drawn stick figure of Hiei was pointing and laughing at a stick figure of Kurama. A stick figure that was wearing a tiny miniskirt and high heels.

"That's a pretty good stick figure," Yuusuke said as he peeked over Kurama's shoulder. Slowly, very slowly, Kurama's head turned until he was staring Yuusuke in the eyes. The dark eyed boy gulped. There was a maniacal gleam in those green orbs, and Kurama's left eyebrow was twitching. Never a good sign.

"Um…sorry?" Kurama looked back down at the paper in his hands. A few seconds later, with a muffled scream, the note was torn to shreds.

"Hiei Jaganashi! You are 'stho going down!"

TBC…

What did you think? The next chapter is going to be mostly Kurama and Hiei. Shio will make a brief appearance, simply because Yuusuke is still going on with his ridiculous courting attempts during the span of the next chapter. Shio might not even appear, he may only be mentioned. Anyway, poor Kurama.

His nose is kinda stuffed up, so that's why the last sentence sounded strange. I'm hoping the next chapter will be funnier, but I get out of school in 3 days, so hopefully I will have more time to write since I am graduating! Yeah! Finally! Please review, and flames will be used…well, I don't really have a use for them, but yeah. Oh, and in probably the 10th, or maybe even 9th chapter, a new character will appear! A character who will have to do with helping Yuusuke overcome a certain fear of his. Heh-heh.


	9. Revenge

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or any Naruto characters, however, I do own Shio, and Natoya is an original character owned by someone else!

Warning: Yaoi. If you don't like it, don't read it. Hiei, Kurama, and Gaara are a tad OOC, but let's think about it for a second. In this fic, they're normal (coughnotcough) high school students. They've got to be a little immature.

Thanks to all my reviewers! I'd never remember to update if it weren't for you people!

Since a few of you seemed to like Shio, I would like it to be known that I have quite a few original stories that feature him as the main character. Not fan fiction, they're originals. Just in case anyone is interested in reading them. I'm considering posting them on fiction but for the moment, simply email me if you want to read some.

For those of you wondering about the dinner with Gaara, I skipped over that one, but there will be one in the upcoming chapter. Do not fret!

I got a review from someone who was very enthusiastic the other day! Thanks Miyavi Fangirl! I've sent reviews like that, but I've never received one. That review made my day and I will do my best not to let you down!

A new character is being introduced today!

Please enjoy this chapter!

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That little bastard! Little, being an understatement. That short, insignificant, speck! How dare he?! Kurama smirked in triumph. At least his inner monologue didn't sound like his nose was missing. Although it might as well have been. His nose was so stuffed up it was a wonder he could even breathe. His eyes were red and watery, and his nose was a bright red. Highly unattractive.

"Any better, dearie?" The school nurse smiled sympathetically at him when he shook his head.

"I feel terrible," He said in a severe nasally voice.

"Don't you worry, pumpkin!" She smiled brightly and patted him on the head. "Your mother is on her way in, now! Soon, you'll be warm and cozy in your bed at home!"

Kurama forced a smile and nodded. The nurse's cheerfulness was adding an extra throb to his headache. Why wouldn't she just go away?

"Oh! You're out of water!" She sprang out of her seat and snatched his empty cup. "Don't you move a muscle! I'll be right back!"

Kurama breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she was gone. He could only handle so much happiness. Although happiness beat pissy short boys any day. _Speaking of pissy short boys.._ Kurama glared at the tile on the floor. He knew who had put those tulips in his locker. He knew why. It was a challenge, plain and simple. Hiei was challenging him, and there was no way in hell Kurama was going to back down from a challenge like that.

The only problem was the fact that in a few minutes, his mother was going to arrive and take him away from the school, and away from his chance for revenge. Hiei would not expect a quick comeback, not if he knew how severe Kurama's allergy was. But how was he going to do it?

Kurama's questions were answered by a flash of red and black as the door opened and a familiar figure entered the nurse's office.

Gaara stopped and stared at Kurama with the blank gaze he was well-known for. The green eyes held a shade less hostility than normal, which for Gaara, could almost equate to friendly.

"Sabaku." Kurama greeted him.

"Minamino." Blood was streaming down Gaara's left arm and dripping onto the floor.

"What happened to you?" They both asked at the same time.

"Tulips." Kurama begrudgingly admitted. To Gaara's credit, his eyebrow only raised marginally.

"Pencil." He said. They both fell silent, listening to the steady drip of blood onto the previously spotless tile. Kurama stared at the growing puddle. If only that were someone else's blood…

"Gaara?" He asked after a moment's thought.

"What?"

"Could you do me a favor?"

"No."

"I'll pay you five dollars."

"…Anywhere specific you want me to dump the body?"

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"Poor Kurama," Hiei said as he tossed the basketball to Gaara. He and Gaara were playing against Yuusuke and another boy whose name escaped him. It was kind of pathetic. Yuusuke was competition enough, regardless of his lack of hand-eye coordination, simply because he was so damn pushy. The no name boy was supposed to be covering Hiei, but he was too terrified of him to get close enough to effectively do anything. So Hiei was having an easy time of it. Gaara, on the other hand, looked ready to commit murder. Yuusuke appeared to have no intention of actually getting the ball. He just seemed intent on sticking as close to Gaara as possible. Why? Who knows.

"You've said that five times already!" Yuusuke shouted as he tried to snatch the ball away. Gaara responded with a swift kick in the stomach, and Yuusuke gasped and hunched over.

"Hn." When all else fails, resort to monosyllables. Gaara threw the ball and the basket, but missed…and hit one of the freshman nerds in the face with it. Judging by the evil smirk on the red head's face, he hadn't missed at all.

"Poor Kurama, eh?" Yuusuke said after he had regained his breath. Gaara had walked away to retrieve the ball from the unconscious freshman.

"Hn."

"Maybe I'm going out on a limb here…but I'm pretty sure you had something to do with the huge bunch of tulips in Kurama's locker this morning?"

"…Maybe."

"I'll take that as a yes."

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Gaara eyed the door to the locker room impatiently. In a few moments, Hiei was going to pass through that door. In a few moments…

"Damn, I left my sock in there!" Yuusuke marched past him, his arm stretched out to push the door open. Gaara froze. He had to think quickly. Yuusuke could **not** go through that door!

"Urameshi!" He said boldly. "Shio's mine!" There, that worked. The dark haired boy whipped around and a murderous look crossed his face.

"Like hell!" Gaara breathed a sigh of relief as Yuusuke moved away from the door. Any second now…

SPLOOSH!

"AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!" Yuusuke forgot about his territorial rampage as the door the boy's locker room burst open and Hiei stepped out. His entire five foot frame was covered and dripping. Covered so that even his black hair was indistinguishable.

Wow.

"Hiei…" Yuusuke managed to choke out. "You're very…pink."

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"Ow! You bastard! That hurts!"

"Pipe down and hold still!" Shio scrubbed harder with the brush and tightened his grip on Hiei's hair. The dark haired boy growled and purposely sloshed more water onto Shio.

"Don't make me get in there with you," Shio said warningly. "You may be 15, but we're both tiny and you know I'll fit." Hiei went as still as he possibly could. As much as he would have enjoyed Shio climbing into the tub with him, preferably without clothing, he seriously doubted any lecherous intentions on his guardian's part. That meant that he would be desperately trying to hide his body's reaction under the soap pink water. Much like he was doing now, come to think of it.

"How did you get covered in pink paint?" Shio asked as he scrubbed at Hiei's neck. Hiei scowled at the memory.

"Kurama." He growled between gritted teeth.

"I take it those tulips you bought yesterday were not used as an apology?" Shio finally stopped scrubbed at Hiei's raw skin and rocked back on his heels.

"Of course not. You already knew that." Shio sighed and pulled a large black towel out of the cabinet.

"You did hit him upside the head with a stick." He said as he put the towel on the side of the sink.

"He deserved it." Hiei mumbled. Shio chuckled softly and ruffled Hiei's wet hair before he left the bathroom to let Hiei finish bathing.

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"I don't understand it! When did he get time to do that?" Hiei flopped on his bed and glared at the ceiling.

"He didn't." Gaara said from his seat on Hiei's desk. Instantly, suspicious red eyes focused on him.

"How do you know?" Gaara appeared to be unaffected by Hiei's stare and he idly flipped through a magazine.

"I was in the nurse's office while he was," He frowned in distaste at the magazine and tossed it back onto the desk.

"And?"

"His mother picked him up."

"Then how did he do it?" Hiei went back to staring at his ceiling in silence for a few minutes. How had Kurama managed it? He sighed. Best to ask someone older and…yes, wiser.

"Shio!" He yelled. Gaara's head snapped up when Hiei said this and when they hear footsteps, Gaara's fingers went to the bandage on his left arm. A few seconds before the door opened, he ripped the bandage off and blood once again began streaming down his arm. Hiei quirked an eyebrow at his somewhat odd behavior but decided not to ask.

"Shio." He said. The guardian in question was leaning in the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah?"

"How did Kurama do it?" Hiei demanded. A silver eyebrow rose.

"Do what?"

"It."

"It? You'll have to be more specific, Hiei."

"How?"

"This isn't a vague 'how are babies made' question…is it?" Shio asked suspiciously.

"No!" Hiei snapped. "How the hell did he have time to get that damn paint up there when his mother picked him up directly from the nurse's office?!"

"That's easy. He had help."

"…Help?" Hiei had not thought of that. _I guess I assumed he was going to play fair. Cheating girly bastard._

"Ow." Gaara said flatly. They both looked at him. He was still bleeding and now he was holding his arm out and looking directly at Shio.

"Shit! What the hell did you do?!" Shio strode towards Gaara to inspect his wound. He touched it cautiously and Hiei noticed that his cheeks were turning pink.

"Fix it." Gaara demanded intently. "I don't know anything about bandaging."

Hiei frowned. Why was Gaara lying? He knew perfectly well how to bandage a wound…Why would he want Shio to fix it?

"Y-Yeah! Of course!" Shio smiled nervously and lead Gaara out of the room while at the same time gently stemming the blood flow with the sleeve of his shirt. Hiei stared at this weird behavior. Was Shio drunk? Was Gaara drunk? Were they both going crazy? Gaara hated being touched…yet he practically asked Shio to. And Shio was using the sleeve of one of his favorite shirts to mop up blood…

"This is what paranoia feels like…" Hiei shuddered and reached over to pull his black notebook off his nightstand. He would worry about Shio and Gaara's odd behavior later. He had a nefarious vengeful plot to plan.

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Two days later…

"Shio…Shio…Shio…" Shio buried his head under his pillow in an attempt to drown out the annoying chant next to his head. _Sleep…must sleep…_

"Shio…WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!"

"AAAGGHHHHH!!!" Shio clutched desperately at his pillow as he was rather rudely dumped out of his hammock. He hit the floor with a painful thud.

"Are you awake?" A pair of dark eyes snapped open and narrowed when they spotted his tormenter. Hiei stood above him, fully dressed and far too awake for whatever the hell time in the morning it was.

"What?" The angry question was delivered with a saccharine smile and Hiei almost regretted waking him so early. The one thing he had learned was that Shio was not a morning person. However, in order to get what he wanted, he would have to ask during the time when Shio was at his weakest. His guardian's mental capabilities at six in the morning were like those of a two year old. This would be easy.

"I need to borrow a miniskirt and a pair of high heels." He said as Shio continued to glower at him. Shio's left hand had lifted and pointed to his closet before his mind fully processed Hiei's request.

"Wait, what?!"

"Closet, you say?" Hiei ignored Shio's sputtering and walked towards the closet. The only problem would be finding the skirt and heels.

"I-I don't have anything like that!!!" Shio scrambled to his feet and threw himself against the closet door.

"…"

"D-Don't give me that look! Go ask Yukina! She's a girl!" Hiei sighed and tapped his foot impatiently.

"She doesn't have what I need. I know you do."

"I do not!"

"Stop lying."

"…Fine." Shio opened his closet door and pulled out a piece of black fabric. A few seconds later, he tossed a pair of strappy black heels at him.

"I knew you were a cross dresser." Hiei said smugly.

"I LOST A BET!!! OKAY?!!?"

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"Gaara?" Hiei sidled up next to the redhead and handed up a black bag. Gaara nodded and accepted the black bag, along with a five dollar bill. Hiei smirked as Gaara walked away with the bag. While this would not be quite on the scale of the paint or the tulips, it would certainly serve to piss Kurama off. After all, was that not what this was all about?

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Yuusuke sighed as he tossed a wad of paper into his waste basket. Why was our ever so wonderful young man feeling down? Well, his name starts with an 'S' and ends with an 'hio'. Shio. Yes, he was mourning the fact that for once, he might actually be beaten. Not physically, but emotionally. He was beaten in the game of love. How did he know? He heard it straight from Hiei's mouth.

FLASHBACK!!!

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"Why didn't you ask Shio about it?" Yukina asked as she critiqued Hiei's essay. Hiei made a face.

"He was in bed with Scott."

"What?!" Yuusuke dropped his candy bar and leapt to his feet in horror. Had he heard right? Nooooooo!!!

"Yeah." Hiei rolled his eyes. "He's in love with that damn Scott."

END FLASHBACK!!!

Yuusuke pushed play on his stereo and felt his eyes moisten as Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' filled the room. Life was so unfair.

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Kurama strolled down the hallway. He was in an excellent mood. Why? Because his sinuses were finally back to normal and because he had gotten a one up over that little twerp. Victory was sweet. Coming out on top over that psychotic, freakish, short, weird, tiny freshman made his heart soar with immense delight. Too bad he had not had the chance to see how pink looked on him. He would have to thank Gaara later. He had expected the antisocial redhead to reject his offer, but apparently the boy had little to no loyalty to anyone, even his own friend. He would have to note that for later.

"Oh! Minamino-san!" Kurama's good mood dropped a notch when his horde of fan girls noticed his arrival. _There's always a catch._

"Good morning, ladies." Kurama pasted a polite smile on his face and braced himself for the onslaught. As expected, they followed him to his locker, simpering and cooing over how he looked so much healthier and refreshed after his two day vacation.

"All I needed was a bit of rest." Kurama assured them as he twirled the dial on his lock. They giggled over something unknown to him as he opened the door to his locker.

"…ah…" Kurama stared blankly at the inside of his locker. _Do I have the wrong locker?_ He closed the door and checked the number. No, it was his locker…He peeked inside again. First reason to panic; his books were missing. Second reason to panic; so was everything else in his locker. Real reason to panic; in their place were a pair of strappy black heels on top of a folded piece of black cloth and a slip of paper. He squashed down his initial anger and pulled out the paper.

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Dear Girly Bastard,

Here's the miniskirt! I hope it fits! I included heels as well. I'm sure you'll want to show off those lovely legs of yours.

Sincerely,

Hiei

P.S. You want your locker contents? My house. Bring the skirt and heels and we'll negotiate.

"That…that…" Kurama crumpled the note in his hand.

"Minamino-san? Are you alright?" Kurama smiled at the worried group of girls as he slammed his locker door.

"I'm perfectly fine!" He said brightly as he slowly shredded the paper into tiny pieces.

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"HIEI!!!" Shio leaned away from Kurama's furious form.

"Umm…no." Shio eyed Kurama's angry expression curiously. What had Hiei done to incite such a reaction. His gaze trailed down to shoes and fabric in Kurama's right hand. _Hey…I recognize those…_

"Do you want to come in?" He asked. He stepped aside and held the door open for him. After a brief moment of glaring at the carpet, Kurama stepped inside and toed off his shoes.

"Um…I don't suppose those shoes have something to do with the reason you're here?" Kurama suddenly smiled brightly and Shio shuddered when he saw the expression. _Oh…he's pissed._

"Hiei asked me to meet him here!" Kurama still wore the scary smile and Shio contemplated running away. No, someone would have to prevent severe bloodshed.

"How about I make some tea?" Shio gave into his desire to back away and he pointed at the couch. "You sit there and I'll make tea!"

Kurama sighed. Hiei had yet to appear, so he might as well take Shio up on his offer. He sat down on the couch and picked up the magazine that he had been reading during his last visit.

"Hey! Scott! Get out of the sugar jar! You don't need all that sugar!" Shio was yelling at someone in the kitchen. Was there someone else in there?

"Don't give me that! Your health is important to me!" There were a few crashes and mumbled cursing.

"He must be crazy." Yes, that was the only explanation. Kurama looked up as someone pounded on the front door.

"Hold on!" Shio walked to the front door and pulled it open.

"Shio?" Yuusuke stood on the doorstep, looking more sullen and depressed than Kurama had ever seen him.

"Yuusuke?" The dark haired boy held up a hand to silence Shio.

"Shio. I want you to understand that I feel an insane physical attraction towards you. However, it has come into my knowledge that you don't feel the same for me. In fact…" Yuusuke paused to take a deep breath. "I have realized that someone else holds your heart!"

"…you know about…him?" Shio held his breath. How did Yuusuke find out about Gaara? Did Kurama…?

"So I have decided to leave you to your love!" Yuusuke abruptly turned around and walked back down the steps.

"…okay…"

"I hope you and Scott are very happy together!!!" Yuusuke yelled over his shoulder before he broke into a run. Shio stared at his retreating form in shock before he closed the door.

"I thought you wanted Gaara." Kurama said as he turned a page in the magazine.

"I do."

"Then who's this Scott?" Shio turned and walked back into the kitchen. A few seconds later, he returned with something cupped in his hands.

"Meet Scott." Kurama peered into Shio's cupped hands, expecting a photograph. No, there was no photograph.

"Ah…" Staring him in the face, with a menacing expression in its eight beady eyes, was a large…tarantula.

"…Fuck, that's a big spider!!!" Kurama threw himself as far back into the couch as possible. He almost considered going over the back. The big hairy spider was as wide as Shio's palm, and it was staring at him.

"He's a Mexican Red Knee Tarantula," Shio said indignantly as he pulled his hands, and the spider, away.

"T-That's Scott?"

"Yeah." Shio laughed as he raised his hands to eye level. "I almost thought he found out about Gaara! But we fooled him! Didn't we, Scott?" Kurama huffed and picked up the fallen magazine as Shio began cooing to the spider.

"Oh, we forgot the tea!" Shio began walking back towards the kitchen. "Let's finish the tea, Scott!"

Kurama shook his head. Shio was crazy.

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"What are you getting out of all this?" Gaara asked as Hiei pulled his keys out of his pocket.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean your fascination with seeing Minamino in a miniskirt."

"It's not a fascination!" Hiei snapped. "It's a desire to see him crumbling in humiliation!"

"Sure." Hiei ignored Gaara's comment and pushed the front door open.

"You!" He pointed in outrage at the by now familiar red head on his couch. Kurama eyed him with open contempt.

"It's nice to see you, too." The two began a hostile staring contest from which no living creature could escape. Gaara eyed the two of them for a moment before he decided to leave them be. He walked almost eagerly to the kitchen. On the way, he paused and contemplated tripping and hitting his head on the counter. Shio seemed to be very fond of treating his injuries, and who was he to deny him such pleasure?

"G-Gaara?!" Too late. Shio had already noticed him. He had no chance of making it look like an accident. Gaara sighed. Life was not fair.

TBC…

I hope you enjoyed chapter 9. Don't worry, Yuusuke isn't gone, yet. I wrote all of this in the span of 45 minutes, so hopefully it is satisfactory. A new character has been introduced! Please review!


	10. Plan in Action

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Naruto! I do, however, own Shio! He's mine! I am in California at the moment and I finished this! Yay! Thanks to all my reviewers!

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Asphyxiation. Decapitation. Drowning. Chinese water torture. Death by spork. All of these delicious thoughts flashed through Kurama's mind as he stared down the boy who had caused him so much grief. Hiei was glaring back at him with equal intensity. Where had he learned to glare like that? Certainly not from Yukina.

"You do realize," Kurama ground out slowly. "What this has done to my reputation?" Oh yes, he was the laughing stock of the entire student population. Not only were half the boys making fun of him for supposedly being a cross dresser, but the other half apparently thought that he was now 'batting for the other team' and was fair game. He had never been hit on so much in his entire life. What was worse was that while he would have thought that being a 'cross dresser' would deter the female students, apparently men in drag was not as much of a turn off as he thought. No, his fan club had _increased_. Something about a man being in touch with his feminine side…complete and utter bullshit in his opinion.

"What reputation?" Not that question again. What a redundant thought process Hiei possessed. And he was supposed to be an artist? How could he be with such a lack of creative drive?

"My reputation as a normal, straight guy!" And yet, he was still going along with it. But what else could he say to that?

"Hn. I think that was ruined years ago." Damn him. Forget choosing one way to kill the little bastard. Kurama was sure the shrimp was tough enough to endure dying a few different ways.

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Shio stirred the stew slowly and resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder. No, he wouldn't do it. Perhaps he should stir the stew in a counter-clockwise manner? Certainly that would be far more interesting than stirring clockwise and might aid in taking his mind off his rather distracting distraction. The silver haired man sighed and glanced down at the tiny creature currently pacing back and forth on the counter. Scott had not taken his eight eyes of Gaara since the young man had entered the room. Every so often, the tarantula would crawl up Shio's arm to his shoulder, eye Gaara menacingly for a moment, and then would crawl back to the counter to continue pacing.

"Relax, Scott." Shio put a hand down in front of the large spider to prevent him from getting too close to the edge of the counter. Scott gave him a nasty look and turned indignantly away.

"Scott?" Shio repressed a surprised yelp when the Gaara spoke right next to his ear. He gave in the urge to look over his shoulder and found that Gaara was…really close. Really close. As in, closer than one should be when speaking to someone!

"Scott?! Yeah! This is Scott!" Shio pointed to the tarantula that was now waving his front legs angrily at the red head. A red eyebrow rose as Gaara eyed the spider. (I had to give Gaara eyebrows! I couldn't really say he raised the skin area above his eye, could I? Wait…I could…hmmm.)

"Hm." Shio bit his bottom lip as warm puffs of air caressed the back of his neck. _Why of all places does he have to breath there?! Why the hell can't he breath on my elbow?!_ The neck was the most sensitive part of his body, and he was hard pressed to maintain what little self-control he had to begin with. He was too old to be raping underage high school students. Although from what he knew, Gaara would probably be doing the raping, so perhaps is he could irritate him enough to…no, bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!

"So…how goes your…uh…school…stuff?" Shio resisted the urge to bang his head against the counter. _Way to fucking sound intelligent, dumbass!_

"Fine." Shio gritted his teeth as pleasurable tingles spread down his spine. _Must do something. Now._

"Wow! That's great! Hiei is always complaining about the classes, and the students, so I thought I'd ask someone if they're really as bad as everyone says!" _When in doubt, talk._

"Hm." Gaara didn't seem very into conversation, but Shio rambled on about everything from school to flavors of ice cream.

"Hiei really likes mint chocolate chip, but I prefer plain chocolate myself!" So focused was Gaara on watching the spreading flush on the ivory neck that he didn't notice the irate spider that was slowly making its way up Shio's arm.

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The red haired human was going down. Scott may have been just a tarantula, but he certainly knew trouble when he saw it. And that red head was trouble. His human grew nervous around him, and his body began releasing a pheromone similar to a female tarantula in heat. Now, Scott knew that Shio was no female spider, and that the red haired human was not one either, but they both released the same scent. The weird thing was that they were showing interest in one another. However, Scott was rather wise for a spider, and he had long since figured out that a 'mating' was soon to take place. And after that mating…someone was getting eaten. It was a natural part of nature that after mating, the male became lunch, to put it harshly. Which meant that Shio was in danger of being devoured. All eight of Scott's eyes narrowed as the human leaned in far too close. No one was going to eat _his _Shio!

With that thought in mind, Scott inched closer until the human was with in reach. Yes, he would strike, and this human would realize exactly who he was dealing with!

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"You're a sick little pervert, Hiei." Kurama growled as he held up the heels.

"Hn?"

"I am not a pervert! How dare you imply such a thing!" Kurama ignored Hiei's shocked look. He had never thought that Hiei's ridiculous dictionary would come in handy, but after several arguments that involved the cursed word, Kurama had finally broken down and requested a copy. Someone whom he was not about to name, coughshiocough, was kind enough to hand over his own copy of the book. Why Shio had a copy, Kurama forgot to ask, but he guessed that if you spent that much time around the little twerp, you would eventually try to learn his language. Silly, but effective.

"Hn?"

"Your monosyllables are no longer a roadblock on my road to victory, my short little friend." Kurama declared smugly. "Soon, you will be on your knees begging for forgiveness!" Oh yes, he would triumph over Hiei in this battle of wits. The short boy would soon realize that speaking in barbaric grunts would no longer confuse one of higher speech capabilities like Kurama. Victory was near.

"You'd like me on my knees, wouldn't you?" Hiei shot back. Kurama pondered that image for a few seconds before the suggestion sank in.

"What?! No!" Wonderful. Now his lovely mental image was tainted by that damn suggestive comment!

"You're always talking about it," Hiei continued. "You think about it while you're alone at night, don't you?"

"I do not!" Okay, so he had thought about it a little bit, but certainly not in the way Hiei was thinking! There were definitely no thoughts of Hiei on his knees doing things other than begging for mercy!

"You're a pervert! I knew it!" Hiei shouted accusingly. Kurama huffed indignantly as his face flushed. He needed to come up with something, now! Something that would turn the tide in his favor…

"Alright. You caught me." Kurama raised his hands in surrender. He ignored Hiei's shocked expression and continued. "I think about you on your knees all the time. Naked. And last night I had the most wonderful dream about you. It was our wedding night! And, being the scared virgin that you are, you asked me to take charge! And I did! And I did it in the most delightfully hot, rough, demanding, forceful, dominant, sexy…why am I telling you this?!"

Hiei was frozen in place. His eyes were wider than Kurama had ever seen them, and his left eyebrow was twitching.

"Now do you understand?!" Kurama ranted gleefully as more color drained from Hiei's face. "I've wanted to fuck you since the moment we met in the hall!!!"

"…………SHIO!!!" Kurama blinked. Hiei sure moved fast for a little guy. The dark haired freshman had turned and hightailed it into the kitchen. The panicked scream echoed back and Kurama withheld a victorious laugh. He could gloat later. Now was the time for action!

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"SHIO!!!" Shio dropped the spoon as a frantic scream cut through the silence in the kitchen. He lifted a hand to protect Scott from the splash and hissed as the boiling liquid hit his skin. Gaara quickly took a few steps away as Hiei skidded to a halt against the table. The boy's eyes were wide and he was a tad paler than normal.

"Fuck that hurts!" Shio cursed lightly under his breath as he stuck his hand under the faucet. On his shoulder, Scott appeared to be having a tarantula fit of rage and was waving his front legs at Gaara.

"Shio."

"What?!" Shio asked impatiently. Gaara silently pointed at Hiei. Shio stared for a second before he sighed.

"Hiei, where are you going with the meat cleaver?" The dark haired boy froze, and then turned to look at him with an absolutely innocent expression.

"Nothing."

"Then why do you have it?" Scott was waving his front legs so frantically that he almost fell off Shio's shoulder. The silver haired man gently lifted him off and placed him on the counter.

"Kurama wanted to see it." Hiei finally said.

"Right. Give it to me." Shio held out his hand, but Hiei clutched the cleaver to his chest.

"You don't understand! I need this!"

"Killing Kurama is not going to solve anything."

"Yes, it will!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!" Gaara sighed. He knew where this was going. He slowly walked past Hiei and strode casually into the living room. Kurama was still sitting in the chair, flipping through a magazine.

"Evening, Sabaku." Kurama seemed far too cheery.

"Minamino." Gaara paused. Yes, Shio and Hiei were still arguing. "What did you do?"

"Do? Me? What makes you think I did anything?"

"He's trying to come out here with a meat cleaver." Kurama frowned.

"I don't think Shio can hold him for long." Gaara continued.

"You've got a point…Has your price changed?" When Gaara shook his head, Kurama pulled a dollar out of his pocket.

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"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!" Gaara sighed. They were still at it. The only difference was that Hiei was now trying to twist his way out of a headlock. The meat cleaver lay on the floor next to Shio's foot.

A hiss drew Gaara's attention and he glared down at Scott. The tarantula was angrily waving its front legs at him. The red head smirked and poked the spider with a whisk. Scott hissed louder and backed up a few inches.

"Kurama must die!" Hiei had managed to sink his teeth into Shio's forearm and his words were muffled by the flesh in his mouth. Gaara cleared his throat loudly and frowned when they ignored him.

"Hiei!" Success. The two stopped to look at him. "Is it true that Yukina is dating Kuwabara?"

"……What?!" Shio was wise enough to let go as Hiei furiously flailed about.

"Where the hell did you hear that?! She would never date that pathetic loser!!!" Shio coughed lightly into his hand and Hiei turned on him.

"Is this true?" He hissed. Shio shot Gaara a look that promised pain before he smiled brightly at Hiei.

"Is what true?"

"About Yukina!"

"What about Yukina?"

"She's dating Kuwabara!"

"Who's dating Kuwabara?"

"Yukina!!!"

"What about-ow-ow-ow-ow!!!" Hiei grabbed a lock of Shio's hair and viciously jerked him to eye level.

"Don't. Do. That."

"Don't do that. Right. It's been noted!" Shio winced as Hiei jerked one more time before he let the hair slide out of his fingers.

"Now tell me the truth. Is Yukina dating that moron?"

"…Maybe?"

"…WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! WHAT KIND OF IMBECILE ARE YOU?!"

"It's not my fault she likes him," Shio crossed his arms over his chest and turned pointedly away from the fuming Hiei.

"But _you_ let her date him."

"…True."

"Is something wrong?" Kurama chose that moment to poke his head in.

"Yes there is something wrong!" Hiei pointed furiously at Shio. "This moron decided that it would be a good idea to let your idiot friend date my sister!"

"Yuusuke?" Kurama asked in confusion.

"Kuwabara!!!"

"Oh…" Kurama was silent for a moment before he looked at Shio. "He's got a point, Yukina is way too good for Kuwabara."

"See?" Shio inspected his nails with a bored expression.

"Yukina deserves someone much more intelligent and attractive," Kurama continued.

"Then who would you have her date?" Shio asked Hiei.

"Hn." Hiei crossed his arms and turned away from Shio. The two began a silent contest of who could stare at the wall longer. Gaara sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall. Silence continued for what felt like an eternity until…

"Dinner is burning."

"What?!" Shio lunged for the pot on the stove and found to his dismay that smoke was billowing out from under the lid. He sighed and dumped the entire concoction into the sink.

"There goes dinner, you ass!" Shio pointed furiously at Hiei, who was still staring at the wall.

"It's not my fault that you're a sucky cook."

"You can't cook, either!"

"But I'm a better cook than you."

"You burn toast!"

"You make cereal lethal!"

"You smell like feet!" At this, Hiei turned around in mock outrage.

"Feet? Oh no! The horror!"

"I will kill you, brat!" The fight was abruptly ended when Gaara stepped forward and grabbed the end of Shio's braid. He used the silver rope to pull the fuming man away from Hiei, who smirked triumphantly. Shio flailed angrily, but he didn't dare pull away. No, that silly hair was far more important to him than the defense of his ability to insult.

-------------------

"I assume you're actually going to come to school tomorrow?" Kurama asked as Hiei escorted him to the door. He was keeping a close eye on the short boy. Sure, Hiei had been momentarily sidetracked, but who knew when he was going to remember that he was pissed?

"Hn." Hiei glared at the worn carpet. Kurama smiled as he stepped outside.

"I would hate for you to miss tomorrow!" He said smugly. "It's an important day!"

"Hn?" Kurama cackled inwardly when he received the confused grunt. Time to put his glorious plan into action.

"Don't you know what day tomorrow is?"

"…No."

"Why, it's Sweetest Day!" Kurama waited for the blank expression to become tinged with borderline horror before he continued.

"And since I've confessed my feelings for you today, I finally have someone to celebrate with!" Kurama had to quickly lean back to avoid having his nose broken by the door.

"Bye, honey!" He yelled through the wood. He turned and skipped down the steps to the sidewalk. Phase one of his plan was working out nicely. He had to admit that it was nice to finally get to work on the plan. Seriously, he had thought it up weeks ago, why had he waited so long to start?

"Minamino." The voice behind him was annoyed, but not hostile. Kurama pivoted on his heel and turned around to face Gaara.

"Evening, Sabaku!" He said brightly. Gaara ignored his greeting and pinned him with that famous blank stare.

"What did you do?" Kurama blinked innocently.

"Whatever do you mean?" He asked.

"I usually don't ask questions." Gaara snapped. "But Hiei is my…friend." He said the word as if it were strange and foreign.

"And?"

"And if this plan of yours causes him any real pain…" Gaara trailed off, but his message was clear enough. Kurama paused. He hadn't really thought about that. Sure, he had wanted to hurt Hiei, but if he had to answer to Gaara…Come to think of it, he'd probably have Shio to deal with as well…Nah, the shorty could use a little heartache.

"Shouldn't you be worried about Shio?" Kurama asked. "From what I hear, you've got competition in the form of Yuusuke Urameshi."

When Gaara didn't say anything more, Kurama gave him a jaunty wave and continued on his way. He probably shouldn't have meddled like that, but come on. Yuusuke gave up the chase because he thought Shio was in love with Scott. And Kurama was a little skeptical about Scott's ability to reciprocate Shio's affections. Bestiality can only go so far before physical limitation kicks in. Great. Cue the creepy image.

-----------------

Gaara glared at Minamino's retreating form, but he couldn't get rid of his words. Yuusuke Urameshi. He had seen the cocky punk a few times, and fought him a few times, but never before had he been more than a slight irritant. Gaara gritted his teeth as he fought back the urge to go find that stupid pain in the ass. Last he heard, not that he paid attention to gossip, Urameshi was involved with Keiko Ukimura, the student council president and all around good girl. Why he had made the sudden switch from women to men was perplexing, although Shio could be mistaken for a girl from a distance…

"Bastard." Gaara was in no way in the dark when it came to Urameshi's progress. He heard all about it from Hiei. Urameshi had stolen a kiss, but had gotten a busted lip along with it. Gaara had already fucked him in a public place and had yet to receive a dirty look for it. So the scale was probably tipping in his favor. Gaara frowned. Still, having Urameshi's grubby paws anywhere near _his _Shio irked him. His sister had always said that he was possessive. But that's a good thing, right?

Gaara was jolted out of his thoughts by a car horn. He blinked. How long had he been standing there? The dark blue car that had pulled up in front of him looked awfully familiar. The tinted window slid down and his brother grinned at him.

"Gaara! What are you doing out here? Need a ride home?"

"Kankuro." Gaara nodded in greeting and slipped into the front seat. Kankuro was not here on accident. Obviously, it was later than he thought and Temari had 'persuaded' him to go search of him.

Gaara tried to ignore the irritating rap music that blasted out of the speakers as Kankuro sped through stoplights.

"Kankuro."

"Yeah?"

"What day is tomorrow?"

"Uh…Thursday?"

"What holiday?"

"Holiday? Uh…wait, Temari mentioned this…oh yeah! That Sweetest Day crap! That's it! She was going to have a sale tomorrow!" Kankuro paused to flip off a driver. "Why?"

"Nothing." Gaara stared out the window in contemplation. Sweetest Day. Hmmm…

-----------------

Thursday

"Um…Shio?" Shio sighed as he walked in the door. He sighed and checked his watch. Six in the morning and something was already wrong.

"Morning, Yukina." He said as he dropped his bag.

"I think Hiei's sick." She was wringing her hands. "He won't get out of bed!"

"…Alright…I'll see about it." Shio rubbed his eyes tiredly but headed for the stairs anyway. All he wanted to do was get out of his work clothing and fall onto his hammock, but something told him that it wasn't going to happen.

"I should already be in my damn hammock." He growled as he climbed the stairs. True, he usually got off work at two, but a drunken idiot had managed to start a major bar fight. One poor guy bled to death because of a knife to the throat and a few others were in the hospital. So of course the police had shown up and everyone had to stay behind so they could file witness testimonies and everyone had to give DNA samples. The cops were particularly hard on him for some reason. Either because he was the one who gave the guys alcohol, or just because he was challenging their wonderful cop straightness with his good looks. Probably a combination of both. Although he did have a thing for men in uniform…How would Gaara look dressed as a cop? Hmm…Yeah. But it was a mess and he was happy to be home.

"Get up, Hiei." He snapped as he walked into the room. The person in question just groaned but didn't move.

"I know you're not sick. Get up." The mound of blankets didn't move. Shio sighed again and sat down on the bed. Great, Hiei was going to be difficult.

"Wake up." No movement. "Damn it, Hiei. I am not in the mood for this! I want to get out of this extremely uncomfortable outfit and get some sleep!"

At this, Hiei almost cracked an eye open. Shio was in his work clothing? Seeing that might be worth getting up and going to school…Hmm…No, he could see it another time.

"Hiei." Shio's voice lowered to a deadly whisper. "I don't know what you're avoiding, but whatever it is, if you don't get up now, then I promise that I will make your fate a thousand times worse."

That did it. Hiei pushed the blanket off and glared at him.

"Hn." Damn. Shio looked hot in leather. That almost made the humiliation he was going to endure worth it.

-----------------

"Is he there?" Gaara looked around the hallway and sighed. He didn't really know who Hiei was hiding from, or why he felt the need to hide behind him. So if he didn't know who Hiei was hiding from, could he really give an answer? But he looked around anyway. Let's see…Nerd…Nerd…Geek…Another nerd…Wow, the nerds were out in full force today…Nerd…Minamino…Another nerd…

"He's not there." Gaara then went back to his previous task that was in his opinion much more important than Hiei's poor attempt at sneaking. After all, he needed to figure out which nerd to aim for during gym today. The last one was still exempt from gym. Concussion or something stupid like that. Besides, he had been too easy of a target to begin with.

"Good morning, Yukina!" The high pitched squeal down the hall drew his attention. Kuwabara…hmmm. He wasn't a nerd, but he would prove to be a difficult target. After all, he wasn't even in Gaara's gym class. He was pretty sure that Kuwabara was in Biology, and that was on the third floor…tricky, but not impossible.

While Gaara was making plans for the day, Hiei made the mistake of trusting him and he stepped out into the open.

"Hiei-chan!" The delighted voice almost made him duck back behind Gaara. No, Kurama had already found him. Crap.

"You said he was gone!" He hissed at the red head, who completely ignored him. Cursing his luck, Hiei took off down the hallway, weaving through students and trying his best to lose his tormenter. This was going to be a crappy day.

--------------

Chemistry

"You boys seem to be working well today." The teacher said as she stopped by their station. Kurama smiled brightly at her.

"It's Sweetest Day, and Hiei is showing that he cares by being nicer in public!" Hiei was too busy dying and melting into a puddle of embarrassment.

"Oh…Right." She smiled nervously and moved on. Kurama inwardly cackled. His plan was falling together nicely.

------------------

Gym

"Have you seen Sabaku?" Yuusuke asked Hiei. "He's usually in here harassing the nerds." The short freshman shook his head as he concentrated on the croquet ball. Just a few more hits and he would win, and then they could end this hellish game.

"And where are all the basketballs?" Yuusuke asked for the fiftieth time.

"I don't know." Hiei growled as his ball missed Yuusuke's. Damn.

-----------------

"OW! DAMN!!!"

"Kuwabara, watch your language!"

"But-!" She walked past him to look out the window for the third time during that period. Weird. That was the second basketball that had made its way in the window and that had hit Kuwabara. This one had smacked him on the back of the head, thus propelling his face into the frog that he was supposed to be dissecting. Gross.

"Kuwabara, go clean yourself up." He hurried out of the room and glanced fearfully at the window. An evil basketball god was after him. He just knew it.

------------------

Gaara smirked evilly as he watched Kuwabara enter the boy's bathroom. This would do nicely. He grabbed the basketball cart and pulled it along behind him. He still had four to use, after all.

------------------

Lunch

"Oh, Kuwabara! They're beautiful!" Yukina blushed prettily as Kuwabara presented her with a large bouquet of white lilies. Even Hiei had to admit that it was a nice bouquet. Of course, he would have if he hadn't had his own damn bouquet to carry around. Right after Gym, and in front of Yukina, Kurama had shoved a bouquet of roses into his arms and whispered 'Happy Sweetest Day' into his ear. At least he didn't shout it, but Hiei's face had started to burn and his ear still tingled where Kurama's breath had touched the skin. Maybe Kurama had really acidic breath and it was slowly eating his ear off?

"Only the best for you!" Kuwabara crowed. He was grinning proudly despite the prominent bruising all over his face. When Yukina had asked about it, Kuwabara had shuddered and mumbled something about basketballs.

"Did you like your present, Hiei?" Kurama asked from his right. The redhead was sitting far too close for his liking. But he couldn't tell him to piss off with Yukina watching. So instead he gritted his teeth and forced a smile onto his face.

"Yes."

"Those are so pretty, Hiei!" Yukina said as she admired her own flowers. "Make sure to keep them in good shape, okay? I have a pair of vases at home that will look lovely with these!"

Damn. Now he couldn't throw them away. He had to bring them home…to Shio. And Shio would ask questions…Oh no…

"Where's Sabaku?" Yuusuke asked for the fiftieth damn time!

"He went home." Hiei snapped. True, Gaara had shown up after Gym looking incredibly smug. He had then proceeded to stab himself with a pencil several times. The nurse had instantly sent him home. Why Gaara was stabbing himself with a pencil, Hiei didn't know, but the redhead had always been a bit of a masochist, so who knew?

-----------------

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Temari asked as Gaara walked in. The redhead shrugged.

"Is my order ready?" He asked tonelessly.

"Yeah." Temari set a box on the counter and grinned slyly.

"You got someone _special_ on your mind, Gaara-chan?" Gaara glared at her and picked up the box.

"Mind your own business," He snapped. Irritating women and their need to pry into his private affairs. Of all the nerve…

"Just remember! You have to fill in for me on Saturday!" Temari called before the door slammed shut. She snickered evilly. Poor Gaara. A day running the bakery for him and a day in the mall for her. Life was good. She giggled happily as she decided to take this time to hide all the available aprons. She had found the cutest apron the other day and Gaara was going to wear it or else. Yes, life was good.

-----------------

Yuusuke stood outside the flower shop with his hands shoved in his pockets. For once he had the money to buy flowers, but lacked the motivation. After all, Shio was probably celebrating with that damn Scott, whoever he was. It wasn't as if his gift would be accepted.

"Life sucks," He mumbled as he watched a couple walk out. The girl was holding an arm full of roses and she was latched onto her boyfriend's arm. Stupid lovey people.

He should probably give up. Sure, Shio was hot, and Yuusuke had never met anyone quite like him, but Shio had rejected him outright several times. Not to mention he was already in love with someone else. Yeah, perhaps he should just give up the chase. Focus on something else.

"Hey, Yuusuke!" Yuusuke paused. He had been about to turn and walk away, but the cheerful greeting sounded so familiar. Was she back already? Nah. He turned partially to see the person who had addressed him, and when he saw her, a small smile spread across his face.

"Keiko."

---------------------

"Happy Sweetest Day, Scott!" Shio cried happily as he picked up the tarantula. In his hand, Scott tapped his palm in contentment.

"You'll never guess what I got for you!" Shio carted the spider over the counter and placed him in front of a tiny wrapped present. Scott circled the present in excitement, but didn't open it. You know, no hands.

"Let me help with that!" Shio pulled the tiny ribbon and the tiny sides of the box fell down to reveal an extremely tiny cake with bright green frosting. Scott wasted no time in sinking his fangs into the cake. And no people, it's not a real cake. Shio found this crazy little store in the middle of nowhere that makes specialty food for insects. So the cake was healthy, and apparently it tasted good. Weird.

Scott had devoured a tiny portion of the cake when he stopped and began scraping his abdomen with his front leg. A tiny object fell onto the counter and he pushed it towards Shio with one leg.

"For me?" Shio picked it up and examined it closely. It was a tiny fly expertly wrapped in spider silk.

"You're too sweet!" Shio gently stroked Scott's back and the tarantula purred in contentment. Life was good.

TBC…

-------------------

So, any good? I had to make sure that everyone knew what everyone was doing on Sweetest Day, which is an actual holiday. I think it's in October, if I remember correctly. If you're wondering about Keiko's sudden appearance, well, I mentioned her in the first chapter, and then Yuusuke started running around after Shio. Besides, I couldn't leave Yuusuke totally heartbroken. The Kurama/Hiei attraction is starting, although I'm trying to make it happen slowly. And yes, Kurama is acting weird, but remember his plan that he decided upon in an earlier chapter? Yeah.

Please review, no flames.


	11. Vengeful Parade

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Naruto. However, I do own Shio, not to mention Scott. No, seriously, I do own a tarantula named Scott. Unlike Homicidal Urges's Scott, my Scott is a girl. It's because I decided on the name before I got the spider. Yeah. Enjoy this next chapter.

I am without spellcheck at the moment, so I apologize in advance for any spelling errors.

Hopefully, there should be another fic coming out as a sort of prequel for this one. It shouldn't be too long. Be warned, it will have a lot of Shio in it, since he and Hiei will be the two main characters. Besides, I need to develop him a little more, and I don't feel like doing it in this fic.

--------------

_Dignity: 1. The quality or state of being worth of esteem or respect. 2. formality in bearing and appearance…_ Well, now that Hiei knew what the hell dignity meant, he could be quite sure that he'd lost whatever shred he possessed of it. Hiei sighed and set the dictionary down. He'd never thought of himself as dignified, but he was pretty sure that hiding in the school's ventilation system qualified as extremely undignified.

"Stupid Kurama." He muttered. Hiei had to admit, one of the perks of having Gaara as a friend was that the red head knew the school inside and out. Why, Hiei had no idea, but Gaara had shown him the way to the outside a few weeks ago in case Hiei ever felt the intense desire to escape. Now, he wasn't really trying to escape, he just wanted to hide.

Stupid Kurama. Stupid cramped ventilation shaft. Stupid damn holiday! Hiei winced as the shrill sound of a bell echoed throughout the shaft. Sixth period had started. Art. Kurama wasn't in that class… Hiei began crawling towards the nearest exit, which conveniently came out near the art room. He was not going to miss art class because of some silly holiday.

--------------

"Where have you been?" Aeris asked as Hiei slid into the seat across from her.

"Ventilation shaft." He replied. A red eyebrow rose, but she didn't say anything. After all, Hiei was strange.

"Good afternoon!" Their teacher bounced into the room, spun around a few times, and came to a halt next to her desk. Hiei made a face as he took in Ms. DeVone's attire. The pretty young woman looked normal enough. A simple purple suit. No, the weird part was the sash around her shoulders that said 'Happy Sweetest Day'. Coupled with the tiara on top of her head that displayed the same message…

"Happy Sweetest Day, my wonderful students!" She clasped her hands together in excitement and beamed at her students. Hiei sighed. Great. He just had to be reminded.

"Since today is such a wonderful holiday," She continued. "I have convinced the principal to allow all couples to spend their time together during sixth period!"

"What?!" Most of the students cheered, a few groaned, and one short, dark-haired freshman considered suicide.

"So, for those of you who have partners, you may either relocate to their class, or have them come here!" Half of the class was already on its feet and heading for the door, while the rest stayed put. Hiei was one of the ones trying to leave, except that he had no intention of finding Kurama. However, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you worry about finding Kurama, Hiei-chan!" Ms. DeVone grinned slyly behind him. "I already invited him!"

"What?!" Hiei stared in horror at the person who used to be his favorite teacher. She was planning his downfall. He just knew it.

"What? How?" Hiei asked weakly as she steered him to his seat. She grinned and pushed a lock of dark hair out of her face.

"A certain someone told me about your passionate love affair with the school's most eligible bachelor! I must say, good choice!" She giggled maniacally as she skipped back to her desk.

"A certain someone…Damn you, Shio." Hiei sank low into his seat. Of course Shio would find a way to meddle. Never mind the fact that Ms. DeVone was Shio's best friend in the entire freaking universe! How could he have forgotten something like that?

"Afternoon, Hiei." Kurama suddenly appeared next to him and Hiei tensed. That box. The red box in Kurama's hands did not appear to be threatening, despite that large silver heart on one end. Yet, he still sensed an evil aura. Something very evil and vicious was trapped in that box, and it was waiting, biding its time until he could be released upon the world. Or him, considering how close it was to his face.

"I came all the way down here to spend my class with you!" Kurama exclaimed as he slid into the seat beside him. The cursed box was pushed in front of him. Hiei glared at the smiling redhead.

"What the hell do you want?" He asked as calmly as he could. He could be calm, damnit!

"I bought you a gift. Chocolates!" Kurama lifted the lid and Hiei raised an arm to shield his face from whatever creature that leapt out, intent upon slicing his jugular. When no attack came, he peeked over his arm and found that Kurama had not been lying. There actually were chocolates in the box. Dark chocolates...he could smell coconut...his favorite...

"I hate chocolate." He snapped as he crossed his arms over his chest. He then made the mistake of looking over at Kurama, and he felt as if he had committed the ultimate sin. Kurama's large green eyes were now shining with unshed tears and his bottom lip was sticking out just enough to make a damn good pout, but not enough to seem fake. Hiei could already feel the world falling apart as the people fell to their knees in despair over Kurama's sadness. Hiei felt as if he had just drowned a litter of kittens while watching the part of The Lion King where Simba's father died. Where the hell did Kurama learn to make a face like that? And why the hell was it affecting him?!

"It's not...that I don't like chocolate..." He muttered as quietly as he possibly could. The heart-wrenching face didn't waver. He almost expected singing birds and fluffy bunnies to appear and break out into song in an attempt to cheer Kurama up.

"I mean...it could be poisoned...or something..." Hiei finished lamely, and then he mentally smacked himself. Right, that will make Kurama feel better. Tell him you suspect he's trying to poison you. Way to go, dumbass. Damn, his inner voice was starting to sound more like Shio all the time.

"Poison?...You're just too cute!" Hiei blinked in surprise as Kurama became all sparkles and happiness, instantly. Weird and kinda freakish..

Kurama daintily plucked a single chocolate out of the box and took a tiny bite out of it. Hiei could see the coconut filling and his mouth watered. Damn, he wanted that chocolate. His prayers were suddenly answered by a particularly sadistic god when the delectable morsel was suddenly pressed against his lips.

"What the fu-!" The second he opened his mouth, Kurama shoved the chocolate past his lips and Hiei had to chew to avoid choking. This was some good chocolate.

"Don't you worry about poison!" Kurama chirped brightly. "I took a bite first to make sure that it was alright for you!"

Hiei chewed furiously and swallowed, trying to ignore the wonderful taste.

"Would you like another?" Kurama picked up another piece.

"No!" Hiei instantly realized his mistake when Kurama pulled his look of utter devestation again...and again, he fell for it!

"One more." He said firmly.

--------

"I didn't know you liked chocolate," Aeris said when she saw the empty box in Hiei's hands.

"I don't!" He snarled as he ripped his locker open. She ignored his hostility and shoved her books into her own locker. Luckily, it was the end of the day, so his humiliation was over. Hopefully. Kurama was leering at him the entire time in a thoroughly disturbing manner. It was very...disturbing.

"Can you give me a lift?" Hiei decided to swallow his pride and ask Aeris for a favor.

"Yeah." She pulled on her book bag.

"Than-."

"HIEI JAGANASHI!!!" The bookbag slipped out of Hiei's grip and landed on his foot. He hissed as the heavy science book made his foot throb. He put on his best glare and turned to face whatever moron had decided to accost him on today of all days.

"What the hell do you want?" He snarled at the girl in front of him. He didn't recognize her. She had to be older than him, possibly a junior, and she was standing with her hands on her hips and a glare on her pretty face. At least fifteen other girls were crowded behind him with matching scowls.

"We," She said with a flourish, "Have heard a very nasty rumor concerning you! How dare you think that you can rise to the top by taking advantage of an innocent person's reputation!"

"Hn." Hiei wasn't sure what they meant, although he was hoping that they were referring to someone other than Kurama.

"How dare you pretend that Kurama-san bought chocolates for you!" She continued. Oh. It was about Kurama. Damn.

"Yeah! That's really low!" Another girl said.

"Hn."

"Kurama-san's reputation is very important and we will not have you sullying his good name!"

"Hn."

"You can't even say anything! How about you explain why you felt the need to-!"

"If you must know, I bought him the chocolates," Aeris suddenly said. Hiei blinked. He had totally forgotten about her. She didn't even flinch when fifteen pairs of eyes narrowed at her.

"Who are you?" The lead girl asked snidely.

"I'm Aeris... Why are you harrassing my boyfriend?" There was a collective silence before the girl said haughtily.

"I happen to know that this miserable little freshman was claiming to have recieved chocolates from Kurama-san!" She and the girls glared at Hiei and Aeris cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Yeah, that was me. After all, he _is_ my boyfriend. Can't a girl celebrate a holiday without someone else's fanclub butting in their business? Shouldn't you be stalking him right now or something?"

The group had gone very red, but most of the girls had taken a few steps back the second she spoke to begin with. Somehow, without realizing it, Hiei had collected the most badass group of people in the entire school. Mr. Murderer Gaara, Yuusuke Urameshi, although Hiei wasn't sure where the hell he kept coming from, and least but certainly not least, Aeris Leghnbetter. Her family owned a dojo a few blocks away from the school, and Aeris herself taught an intermediate Taekwondo class. As said before, Hiei had somehow gathered a strange group of badass people.

Needless to say, no one wanted to mess with Aeris Leghnbetter, even fangirls.

"Is that all?" Aeris grabbed Hiei's arm, and the bag he'd forgotten about, and began pulling him away from the crowd.

"Kurama-san!" A girl suddenly squealed.

"Shit!" Hiei and Aeris ducked around a corner and Aeris shoved the bag into his arms.

"Go! I'll distract him!" Hiei wasted no time in sprinting as fast as his short legs would allow him.

Getting out of the school without being spotted was a major task. It was as if Kurama was suddenly everywhere at once! Hiei ended up jumping out a nearby window and meeting Aeris by her motorcycle.

"Quickly!" He urged as she drove out of the parking lot. She threw him a dirty look as she pulled out onto the street.

------------

"So can you fix it?" Shio's voice drifted from the kitchen. Hiei toed his shoes off as a familiar female voice answered.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure everyone's going to notice. You might as well buy a new table." Hiei walked into the kitchen and stopped short when he saw it. A blue haired woman was kneeling next to the table. Well, she was kneeling next to a table that had one end on the ground.

"What the hell?" Shio turned and gave a muffled squeak when he saw him.

"Hiei! Hi! What's up?!"

"What happened to the table?" Shio looked panicked for a second before he grinned.

"Funny story! You see, I left the room, and when I came back, the table was like this! I have no idea what happened!" Shio declared happily. Hiei stared at him for a moment before he lifted a hand to rub his temples. Shio was lying, that was obvious.

"You're lying."

"What?! I am not! Why would I lie to you?" Hiei placed the box in his arms on the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. Bad move. Ordinarily, the move would have pressed Shio into revealing his secret, but dark eyes flickered from Hiei to the box, and the short boy knew it was over.

"Chocolates?" He asked in disbelief. "Who are those from?"

Hiei froze.

Crap.

"None of your business." He said as coldly as possible.

"They're from Kurama, aren't they?" On the floor, the woman stopped what she was doing and looked up.

"...No."

"They are!" Another female voice shouted and Hiei winced. Natoya.

"You should see him," Shio grinned. "He's blushing!"

"Awwwww!!!" Hiei glared at the phone. Shio had Natoya on speaker. That explained it. Damn that conniving teacher.

"Are the flowers from him, too?" Hiei glared at the roses that were in a vase on the counter. Damn, Yukina must have come home already.

"Awwww!!! My little Hiei is in love! That's so cute!!!" Shio clasped his hands and smiled brightly at him. Hiei felt a vein tick in his forehead. This was so unfair.

"I'm not in love! He's a crazy bastard and I want nothing to do with him!"

"Really? Do tell!"

"He's irritating, egotistical, annoying, girly, vain-!"

"Arrogant?"

"And Arrogant! And he's disturbing, he's vicious, he's a louthsome, cowardly, scum sucking-!"

"Hot."

"Hot, evil-! No! Not hot! What the hell are you thinking?!" Shio held up his hands.

"You said it."

"I did not!" Hiei snatched the chocolates off the counter, stuck his tongue out at Shio, and marched out of the kitchen. He then proceeded to stomp as loudly as possible up the stairs to his room.

"Denial." Shio muttered as Botan stood up. She dusted off her hands. (**Note from Author: This is not Botan from YYH. This is another Botan created by a friend of mine who does have blue hair, but it's dark blue. Not to mention she's nothing like YYH's Botan.)**

"What's the verdict?" He asked as she frowned at the broken table.

"Well, you need a new one." Shio sighed.

"I knew you'd say that." He muttered.

"Make sure to get one that can hold more, if you plan on using it that way you used this one."

"I put food on it. That's what tables are for."

"I meant the sex."

"What?!" Shio looked around quickly to make sure that Hiei was nowhere near by. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

Botan shoved her hands in her pockets as she leaned against the counter. "This table broke because there was a heavy weight slamming down on it. Repeatedly."

"Heavy weight?! Shio! You dirty man!" Natoya squealed excitedly.

"...So?"

"C'mon Shio. Spill! I want to hear all the juicy details!" Botan grinned in an evil manner and leaned towards him. Suddenly, Shio was quite aware of how much taller she was than him. Why did he have to be so short?

"I'll tell you later." He growled. She sighed and Natoya huffed in annoyance.

"Fine. We're getting together this Sunday. You're going to tell us. Got it?" He nodded in defeat and she was about to leave, when something caught her eye. She reached out and plucked something off Shio's shirt. Botan held the object up for inspection and broke into a smug grin.

"Sweet! I won the bet!" Shio leaned forward until he could make out the object and paled. In between Botan's fingers was a single red hair. Shit.

"Bet?! You won?! No way!" Natoya voice blasted through the speaker. Botan smirked at the phone.

"Oh yeah! You and Ashley owe me fifty bucks!" There was a disappointed groan at the other end of the line before Natoya hung up to inform their other friend of the results.

----------------

**(Author note. Hiei'd diary entry had several parts that were lined through, meaning that he crossed them out, but for some reason, the lines aren't accepted on so instead, they will be in parenthese(this word is prbably mispelled due to my lack of spell check). Damn, it was so much better with the lines. Author sighs)**

Dear Diary,

Sweetest Day sucks. I'm putting it on my list of things that must die. Along with Kurama. He must die a horrible painful death. (Even if he is hot) He's an ugly bastard who I in no way think is even remotely attractive, (even though Shio did trick me into saying) even if Shio was yelling at the top of his lungs about how hot he thinks Kurama is. I think I should code this, in case anyone reads it. From now on, Kurama is (Rose Boy,) (Hot redhead), Arrogant Ugly Man.

Shio broke the table. How he managed that, I will never know. How the hell do you break a table? What was he doing? This merits further investigation.

Yukina is going out with that loser. Must kill him. Right after I kill (Ku) (Arrogant) the other Extremely Arrogant Ugly Man. Damn, I need to start writing in pencil.

Sincerely,

Anonymous

"Hiei, why do you even bother writing 'anonymous'?" Hiei slammed the diary shut and glared at Shio, who was peering over his shoulder.

"What the hell do you want?" He snarled.

"I just came up to tell you that we're eating out tonight. Until I buy a new table."

Hiei shoved the diary under his pillow to hide it, although judging from the way Shio's gaze lingered on said pillow far longer than anyone should look at a pillow, he was going to have to find a new spot.

"This isn't a thinly veiled plot to get me together with Kurama, is it?" He asked. Shio twirled a lock of hair around his finger and refused to meet Hiei's eyes.

"No..." He said after a moment.

"Liar."

"If you want to fix the table, be my guest!" Shio crossed his arms over his chest and turned pointedly away from him. Hiei stared at his back for a brief moment before he sighed.

"Where are we eating?" Shio instantly whipped around and plopped down on the bed next to him.

"I have no idea! But I'm going to look up a good Thai restaurant in a few minutes," He smiled brightly and Hiei frowned.

"I thought you hated Thai food?"

"I do."

"Then why are we eating Thai food?" Shio sighed and leaned back against Hiei's legs. His stomach was already churning at the thought of the nasty food, but for a certain someone, he would be willing to bear it.

"Because we're having a guest for dinner, and Thai happen's to be said guest's favorite food."

"I knew it! You bastard! You said that Kurama wasn't coming!" Hiei shoved Shio off the bed and the silver haired man landed on the floor with a loud yelp.

"I can't believe I trusted you!" Hiei pointed an accusing finger at Shio. "All this time you've been conspiring against me with that bastard! How dare you! I bet you told him about my favorite chocolate, didn't you! And you arranged for that picture! And you schemed with Natoya because of this damn holiday!"

"Okay, first of all," Shio climbed to his feet and stood with his hands on his hips. "I have not been conspiring 'all this time' against you. I've only been doing that for a little while. Second," Shio's dark eyes narrowed when Hiei was about to interrupt and the boy shut his mouth.

"Second, I had no idea about the picture. It turns out that Yuusuke did that, with a little help from Yukina."

"What about the chocolate?!"

"That was all Yukina. And as for this holiday, I didn't even know about it until Gaara came by and f-...until I read the newspaper!" Shio stumbled over his words and coughed lightly. Hiei blinked.

"Gaara? Gaara was here?" Shio's cheeks had light splotches of pink on them and Hiei frowned. Why the hell did Shio get red everytime Gaara was mentioned? Was he allergic to him or something?

"Uh...Yeah! He came by because he forgot...um...his coat! He forgot his coat!"

"Gaara doesn't wear a coat."

"Well, that's odd...He certainly left with one..." Shio paused to ponder this and Hiei sighed and walked past him. He needed a shower before dinner.

-------------------

Yukina sat at her vanity and smiled nervously at her reflection. The hair clip held her hair up in an elegant loop and she admired the tiny butterfly earings in her ears. She had never worn a lot of jewerly like all the other girls, even though Shio had made it quite clear that he would be willing to buy them for her. No, she never made any effort to stand out of be beautiful. She took care of herself and tried to look decent, but most of her clothing was conservative. She never wore a short skirt or makeup. But that was going to change. She was going to impress Kuwabara if it killed her.

"Yukina?" She gave a tiny shriek as Shio's face appeared in the mirror behind her.

"Shio!" She held a hand over her beating heart and smiled at his reflection. But he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the brand new makeup, some of it still in the package, that was strewn about the vanity table.

"Makeup?" He asked. She blushed and nodded. Slowly, he turned her around so he could see the full affect. No wonder her face had looked so strange. Her eyelids had heavy dark makeup on, complete with what looked like liquid eyeliner and liquid eyeliner. Her cheeks weren't too bad, but the bright pink blush was a tad too heavy. Her lips were well painted, but the red was a bit much as well.

"Um...Did you do this yourself?" He asked. He really didn't want to say it, but she looked a little...whorish.

"No, my friend did it. She says that all women wear their makeup like this." Yukina was fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater. Shio frowned.

"Does your friend have dark hair and bright blue eyeshadow?"

"Uh...yes. All the girls at school are wearing the blue eyeshadow. She got some for me, too!" She showed him the the package, but her face fell when she noticed his frown.

"You...you think it's bad?" She asked nervously.

"I don't think bright blue is a good color for someone with eyes like yours." He said softly. Bright blue eyeshadow. So there _had_ been a strange girl trying to peek into his room.

"Oh...I look horrible, don't I?"

"Not horrible, that makeup is just a little much for you." He uncapped the bottle of makeup remover, thankfully her friend had thought to buy some, and gently wiped her eyelids with a cotton pad.

"I take it what's-his-name is coming to dinner?"

"It's Kuwabara, and yes."

"Oh. Well, you get dressed and I call someone to show you how to do makeup, okay?"

"Okay!" She was instantly all smiles again as he gave her the cotton pad and left the room.

----------------

"Hey, Natoya?" Shio glared at the phone as he heard the beep of the answering machine. "Natoya!!!! I know you're there! Stop having sex with your pansy boyfriend and answer the phone! I will sing!...Mitch! If you're standing there listening to this message, I will personally dedicate the rest of my life to screwing up your relationship with Natoya! Not that it would take that long, but-!"

"_WHAT?!" _Shio held the reciever away from his ear. Ah, so Mitch _was_ standing there.

"Everning, Mitch," He said smoothly. "Is Natoya around? We need to plan our next rendevouz, since we're fucking around behind your back and all. Be a dear and fetch her, will you?"

There was the sound of teeth grinding before Natoya's voice came on the line.

"_Shio?"_

"Evening, love. So, what do you say to sex next Tuesday?" Natoya didn't laugh. Obviously, Mitch was still standing there.

"_What do you need?"_

"I need you to get over here to do Yukina's makeup. And you can come to dinner with us."

"_...Can I bring Mitch?"_

"Ugh...Fine, bring the annoying pissant. And tell him I said he's a prick."

"_We'll be over soon. No, Mitch. Shio didn't say anything about you."_ Natoya hung up and Shio mentally added another point to his mental scorebaord. Shio: 2134. Mitch: 1. He only got a point because Natoya agreed to date him in the first place. What a loser.

As a man, Mitch was good looking. Sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and a decently muscled body. Although Shio was personally convinced that Mitch was a closet case who was missing a few brain cells. Natoya wasn't happy when he said that.

-------------------

Natoya and Yukina were safely situated in her room, Mitch was fuming in the kitchen, and Kurama was sitting in the living room, waiting to be discovered by Hiei. Only one person was missing. Shio paced nervously back in forth in the kitchen and ignored Mitch. Well, for the most part.

"Will you stop pacing?!" Mitch finally couldn't take it anymore. Shio's presence alone put him on edge, but a nervous Shio was too much.

"Fuck you." Shio replied, and continued pacing.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Mitch sneered.

"Not as much as you would. I hear closets are pretty stuffy." Shio's right hand twitched. Damn, he wanted a drink.

"I don't even know why Natoya hangs out with you!" Mitch snapped.

"Because I'm her best friend, dumbass."

"You're an overconfident bastard slut." How original. Shio rolled his eyes. Like he'd never heard that before.

"I have a perfectly legitimate father, thank you, and better an overconfident slut than an insecure pansy boy. You're so damn insecure that you think your girlfriend is cheating on you with a gay man!"

Mitch's fists clenched, and then he was moving towards Shio. Shio repressed a smirk. Mitch was going to attack him. That's what he had been waiting for. The two had gotten into a physical fight about five times since Natoya had introduced them a year ago. Shio had won every single time. Well, except last time, but he hadn't expected Botan to pick him up in order to get Mitch out of his chokehold. Too bad, the bastard had been turning blue.

However, instead of throwing the punch that Shio knew was coming, Mitch stopped short. Shio barely registered the hand on his shoulder before a familiar body stepped in front of him. The familiar scent of sand drifted to him and he barely resisted the urge to press up against the warm body in front of him. He had no idea why Gaara smelled like sand. He just did. Where the hell did Gaara come from, anyway? He could barely see over Gaara's shoulder. Why the hell would he strain to see Mitch when he had Gaara's nice shoulders right at eye level. He knew exactly what those shoulder's felt like under his hands, too. If only he could...No! Bad thoughts!

"Just put the knife down." Mitch was saying in a firm tone, as if he were speaking to a crazy person. What knife? Shio didn't have a knife...

"Hold it!" Shio finally decided that wrenching the meat cleaver out of Gaara's hand was a better idea than grabbing his ass. Even if it was a really nice one.

Gaara turned around in annoyance when the knife he'd picked up was snatched out of his hand and he glared at Shio.

"How the hell does everyone keep picking up this damn meat cleaver?!" Shio opened a drawer and dropped the knife in before he slammed it shut. For some reason, everyone wanted to use his meat cleaver to carry out acts of violence. Why a meat cleaver? He had a perfectly good axe in the garage. Why he had an axe, he didn't really know. It's not like he used it. But it would make an excellent murder weapon.

"And stop glaring at me!" He snapped at Gaara, who was indeed glaring at him.

"He was going to hurt you," Gaara said flatly.

"He was going to try," Shio corrected him. Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"No one else is allowed to hurt you," He said in the same flat tone. He had placed his hands on the counter on either side of Shio, who had to tilt his head back to continue looking Gaara in the eye.

"No one else but you?" He recieved a sharp nod as his answer.

"That's very...sweet." Sweet. Creepy, but sweet.

"That's sick!" Mitch chose that moment to speak up, thus ruining the perfect moment.

"What's sick...Oh my!" Natoya also chose that moment to enter the room and squealed with girlish glee when she saw Gaara plastered up against Shio.

"Botan was right!" She laughed rather maniacally and Shio put a hand on Gaara's chest to put some distance between them.

"Good evening, Ms. DeVone," Gaara nodded in greeting and Natoya froze.

"Wait...Aren't you a student?" When Gaara nodded, Natoya fixed Shio with a stern glare.

"What have I told you about minors?!" Shio had to lean away from her as she glared him in the face. Even she was taller than him. That sucked.

"You act like he's twelve," He muttered.

"He could be!"

"...How old are you, Gaara?"

Shrug.

"You don't know?!"

"..."

"Why the hell don't you know?!"

"Who doesn't know what?" Hiei chose that time to enter the kitchen.

"Ack!...Uh...Can you believe it, Hiei?!" Shio yelled, making the entire room flinch. "Gaara doesn't know how old he is! How could you throw a birthday party for your friend if you don't know when his birthday is?!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hiei glared at Shio. Just for good measure, he glared at everyone else as well.

"Shio and Gaara are-," Natoya began.

"We're talking about birthdays and cool stuff like that!" Shio interrupted. "Because it's so damn fascinating! We should discuss it more often!"

Hiei just stared at Shio. _Okay...Weird_. _He's got to be hiding something. Why the hell does he get so weird around Gaara?_

"Shio...Are you drunk?"

"No! I'm just having fun discussing birthdays! Can't I discuss a birthday?!" Shio panted for a few seconds before he continued in an eerily calm way. "By the way, Kurama's in the living room."

"WHAT?!" Hiei turned and ran back into the room that he'd just walked through. Sure enough, Kurama was sitting in _his_ chair, _again_, flipping through the same damn magazine.

"You!" Kurama looked over the top of his magazine and smiled pleasantly.

"Evening, Hiei."

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"You really should change your magazine," Kurama said conversationally. "This one is always here."

"I don't give a damn! Why are you here?!" Kurama sighed and closed the magazine so he could look at the boy in front of him. Hiei's cheeks were flushed, probably from anger, and his hair was still damp from the shower. _Cute...No! Not cute! What the hell am I thinking?! Hiei is not cute! He's not cute!_

"You had to continue this humiliation?! Do you plan on shoving chocolate down my throat again?!" Instantly, Hiei regretted his words as Kurama's face took on such a severely hurt expression that the whole freaking world stopped, again.

"I...I thought you liked them...I made sure that they weren't poisoned!" Kurama was looking at the carpet and biting his lip. Hiei's stomach twisted. Yukina did that whenever she was feeling embarrassed or ashamed.

"I did like them! Okay! Are you happy! I liked your damn present! I love that chocolate! Are you happy, damnit!?"

"What?! Kurama gave the shrimp chocolates?!" Hiei gritted his teeth as the irritating voice grated against his ear drums. Could this fucking day get any worse?

"Good evening, Kuwabara," Kurama smiled at the boy who was currently turning green. Well, he was already a little green because of his bruises, but the rest of his face was turning green.

"You and the shrimp are dating?!" His voice reached such a high pitch that Kurama winced.

"No!"

"Yes." Hiei would have protested, but his throat had closed up and his tongue had decided to tie itself up in a knot.

"That's just wrong!" Kuwabara then cowered under the look that Kurama sent him. He was used to Hiei glaring at him, but Kurama was a whole other ball game.

"So, Kuwabara, how exacly did you get those bruises?" Kurama's glare instantly changed into a sunny smile that made Kuwabara's gut plummet. He hated that smile. It usually meant bad things for him.

"All day, basketballs kept hitting me!" Kuwabara wailed. The silence was broken by a familiar voice.

"Ah! You must be Kuwa-something...Yeah!" Shio walked in with his usual confident flair, followed closely by Gaara, Natoya, and Mitch. Kuwabara bowed so low that his forehead almost brushed the floor.

"I am Kazuma Kuwabara! It is honor to meet you, Shio-sama!" Hiei would have said something demeaning, but Yukina suddenly stepped into the room and all thought of humiliating the oaf fled his mind. She looked...different...she looked beautiful. Yukina had always been pretty, but now she was pretty in a different way.

"Yukina!" Shio exclaimed loudly and she blushed as everyone looked at her.

"Yukina-chan!" How the hell did Kuwabara move that fast? In an instant he was at Yukina's side with his arm extended in a gentlemanly fashion. Yukina giggled and placed her arm on his...her bare arm. Hiei gasped as he finally took in her attire. The pale blue dress ended at her knees...but it had no sleeves...her arms were bare...and Kuwabara was touching her bare skin!!!

Hiei lunged forward, intent upon ripping off the arm that was currently touching his sister. Then he was going to beat Kuwabara to a pulp with his own arm. That bastard would learn not to touch his sister!

"Hiei! No!" Hiei let out an indignant yelp as arms wrapped around his waist and he was lifted off his feet.

"Let go!!!" Hiei squirmed viciously, but whoever the hell it was had a firm hold. Who the hell was it? Shio was in front of him, not to mention he was too short to lift him that high...Gaara, Natoya, her pansy boyfriend..._Holy Shit!!!_

"Damn you, Kurama! Let go!"

"Not until you agree to let Kuwabara live," Kurama said into his ear and Hiei growled as he felt the damn tingles again. What the hell was with Kurama's breath? It was damn distracting!

"Um...Kurama? As much as I love watching you grope my ward, we've got to get to dinner." Kurama blushed and released Hiei, who put as much distance between himself and the redhead as possible.

"Shio? How are we getting to this restaurant?" Natoya fished her car keys out of her purse as the large group filed out the front door.

"Well, I'm driving mine, and you're driving yours. Who wants to ride with me?!" Gaara rasied his hand slowly.

"I'll ride you." There was a collective silence for a moment before Natoya whispered.

"Gaara, don't you mean ride _with_ you?" Gaara stared at her as if she were an idiot before he nodded.

"Yes."

"Great!" Shio's face was red, but he ignored Hiei's suspicious look. "Then Hiei and Kurama can ride with us and Yukina and what's-his-name can ride with Natoya!"

"Hold it! I don't want to ride with him!" Shio sighed when Hiei started complaining.

"Why?"

"Bec-mmph!"

"Stop complaining." Kurama smiled sweetly at Hiei who was glaring furiously around the sock in his mouth.

"Who's sock is that?" Shio asked as Kurama slid into the seat beside him.

"I don't know."

-------------------

"Do you like the food, Yukina-chan?" Everyone but Yukina winced at Kuwabara's shrill voice. Hiei was caressing a butterknife that he'd stolen from Shio, who still had problems using chopsticks. He seemed to be having problems swallowing, too, Hiei noted idley. His face was flushed and he nearly choked several times. Weird. Gaara was eating with his right hand, which was strange because Hiei knew for a fact that Gaara used his left hand to eat...where the hell was his left hand? His left arm had been underneath the table the entire meal...weird. Speaking of hands...

"Get your fucking hand of my leg!" Hiei hissed at Kurama, who was once again trying slide his hand...somewhere. Hiei wasn't sure where, although he had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't want to know.

"Are you alright, Shio?" Natoya asked as Shio started choking once again. The man nodded shakily and, for some odd reason, shot Gaara a nasty look. What the hell brought that on? Gaara hadn't said a word all through dinner, which wasn't unusual for the antisocial redhead. Now if only another redhead would consider be a little _less_ social, then things would be fucking great!

"Nnnngh!" Hiei bit his lip as Kurama's hand skipped his leg and landed on his crotch. That _had _ had to be an accident. There was no way in hell...okay, that was on purpose.

"Gaara!" Hiei abruptly stood, knocking Kurama's hand away. "Come with me! Now!" Gaara glared at him for a moment before he slowing got up and followed Hiei away from the table. Hiei pulled him into the mens bathroom.

"What do I do?!" He asked frantically. Gaara just stared at him.

"About Kurama!" Hiei elaborated.

"Kill him?" Gaara offered. Hiei shook his head.

"Tried that. Didn't work." Gaara watched Hiei pace for a moment before he sighed.

"Why are you asking me?" Hiei stopped pacing.

"...You're right! Why the hell am I asking you? You know less about sex and relationships than I do!" Gaara chose not to say anything to that. Hiei was not in a stable enough state of mind to handle the knowledge that Gaara did indeed know more about sex than he did.

"What do I do?!" Hiei went back to pacing. Ah yes, he had already forgotten that Gaara was not the person to ask for advice about relationships.

"Break his...heart." Gaara said the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. Hiei froze.

"Break his heart?" Gaara nodded.

"That's brilliant! I'll make the bastard fall for me, then break his scum sucking heart!" Hiei had a maniacal grin on his face and Gaara decided not to correct him. He had been thinking more along the lines of literally breaking his heart, possibly with a pickaxe, but everyone interprets the world according to his own mood, so far be it from him to rain on Hiei's vengeful parade.

TBC...

Force feeding chocolate, an suggestion I went with out of a review. Thanks Kuro Tenka! This chapter didn't come out quite like I wanted, but the next one should be better. I decided that I had to end it somewhere. Review please! Because reviews make me want to write!


	12. The Dream

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Naruto, but I do own Shio and Scott. I've been kinda lax on the writing lately. I have no inspiration, not to mention I don't write well when I'm grimy. I haven't had a shower in a few days because tree roots have grown into the plumbing so everything is backing up into the basement. And I mean everything. It's very smelly, disgusting, and we can't use the dishwasher or take a shower. I feel so grimy. I almost thought Scott died the other day because her little ramp fell down in her cage, but she was okay. She also got out and I had to catch her before she wandered off. Lack of inspiration and contempt for my writing has slowed my progress a little bit. sigh Please enjoy this chapter. And thanks to my reviewers who have waited so patiently. Please review more!!! I love reviews! Flame me and I flame you. (clicks lighter menacingly)

---------------------

"_K.O. Player 2 wins!"_

"AAAARRGGGHHHH!!!!" Hiei threw down his controller and glared at the screen. Player 2's fighter was happily swinging her twin daggers around and laughing at his fallen samurai.

"Rematch! Now!" He hit replay and snatched up his controller. He was not going to lose again.

"_K.O. Player 2 wins!"_

"You suck!" Hiei glared at his companion, who stared at him silently.

"You're supposed to be helping me find a way to make that moron fall in love with me!"

"..."

"If I suddenly start following him around, he'll be suspicious." Hiei set down his controller and picked up his notebook. He crossed out that idea. Never mind the fact that Kurama had gone from trying to kill him to trying to molest him. Hiei wanted to be original with his scheme.

"I could try subtle changes over a period of a few months!" It took one look from his companion for him to skip that idea.

"You're right. I can't wait that long." Hiei sighed. "Why can't I just sprinkle some damn pixie dust on him?! Then this whole plan would take about five minutes!"

"..."

"You're a big help," Hiei muttered as he picked up his controller again.

"_K.O. Player 2 wins!"_

"You're cheating! I know you are!" He recieved no reply and he flopped back on his pillow. He had to do something about Kurama. Anything would suffice, as long as it got the redhead off his back. And his mind. Over the two months that he'd known the redhead, he had had lost interest in almost every hobby he possessed. Well, not so much lost interest so much as he was forced out of them. He usually spent a lot of his time drawing, in fact he had an incompleted mural in the hallway that he really should do something about. Shio kept complaining about how creepy that headless dragon was. Big deal. So what if he hadn't painted on a head yet? Never mind that fact that every time he even considered it, the head would sprout long red hair and green eyes. Because that wouldn't look creepy at _all_.

"He's driving me mad." Hiei admitted to his stoic companion. He looked over at the many covered canvases that leaned up against his wall. There were at least twenty of them, and each on was covered in white cloth. Some of them were almost finished, others were were sketches. The one he had been working on before school started had been a scene he had sketched on a rainy night in June. Shio and Yukina were seated in front of the large kitchen window with the scrabble board between them. The three of them played scrabble at least once a week in order to help them with their english. Shio had insisted that they learn his maiden language .

"_I learned Japanese. You learn english." He had said as he plopped the game in front of them. "Because we've got some really creative cuss words that just don't translate into Japanese!"_

Hiei smiled as he pulled the cloth off the painting. Yukina was fully colored, one hand poised to place a piece on the board. Hiei had even kept track of what words they had used. Shio was only partially colored. Hiei had spent a long time on his guardian's face, carefully painting every detail to his expression. His lips had tightened ever so slightly when Yukina had placed her word and his eyes had had focused sharply on the board. One hand was propping his chin up while the other was tangled in his hair next to his knee. That was the main reason that Hiei had hurried to grab a canvas when the two had started their game. Instead of the usual braid, Shio had let his hair hang loose and it slid over his shoulders and pooled around him in a silver curtain. It was a rare moment and Hiei had snatched the opportunity.

Hiei tilted his head to the side and frowned. Shio's hair was still a blank spot on the canvas. No amount of mixing paint was giving him the color he needed for Shio's hair.

"No wonder I didn't finish it."

"_K.O. Player 2 wins!"_

"Damnit! You weren't supposed to start yet!" Hiei stalked over and plopped onto his bean bag chair. He snatched up his controller again. He was going to win if it killed him.

---------------------

"Shuuichi? Are you feeling alright?" Kurama looked up from his homework as his mother pushed his bedroom door open.

"I'm fine, mother." He said as he closed his notebook. Her dark eyes were worried and her mouth was set in a firm line.

"Shuuichi. I am your mother and I know that something is wrong." Kurama put on his best innocent face.

"What do you mean?" She took a few steps forward and sat on the edge of the bed.

"You've been different since school started. You've never gotten into a fight before, and you were two hours late a few weeks ago. I've spoken to your teachers, Shuuichi. They all tell me that you've have been at odds with a freshman boy." She fell silent for a moment before she continued. "Are you having any problems?"

"Mother..." Kurama sighed. He should have known that she would find out sooner or later.

"There's nothing wrong, mother. I've just found someone who I don't get along with. That's all." He smiled when she didn't look convinced. "We've been working out our differences. You have nothing to worry about."

Her face softened, although he could tell that she was not going to let it go. Perhaps for now, but she would be keeping a closer eye on him.

"Alright," She smiled softly and rose, brushing imaginary wrinkles out of her skirt.

"Dinner is almost ready." She said before she slipped out.

Kurama waited until the sound of her footsteps receded before he opened his notebook again. Looking at them now, his notes very incomplete. He would have to cross out that part about Hiei's girlfriend. He was fairly certain that Yukina was dating Kuwabara, and there was also that part about being Hiei's sister. Although Hiei was a strange guy, so perhaps the sibling part didn't matter. Kurama took a moment to ponder that image and he shuddered. Imagining Hiei with Yukina like _that_ was just...creepy. Come to think of it...who would Hiei go with? He was pretty sure that the little brat was gay, the only question would be who he would go for. Kuwabara was out of the question, and Yuusuke and Hiei would most likely kill each other before they got anywhere near a bed. Who else? If Shio wasn't Hiei's foster father, he would have been the obvious choice. What about Gaara? No. He was too...well, he was just too much like Hiei, except without the hair trigger temper.

"Who the hell would that little bastard go for?" Kurama sighed. He didn't want to get too deep into it, because that would imply that he was serious about it. But in order to properly get revenge, you have to be serious, even if that means seriously flirting with a short, hot-tempered, in-no-way-cute _boy_. A boy.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about my reputation as a normal straight guy," He muttered. "As Hiei said, that was ruined a long time ago."

---------------------

Sunlight streamed in through the blinds in Gaara's room and he cracked an eye open. He really hated sunlight. There was no point to having it rise at seven in the morning. Why couldn't it come up later?

On a normal day, Gaara wouldn't even be thinking about the sunlight. On a normal day, he wouldn't even be in bed. He would be in the kitchen finishing a pot of coffee after another sleepless night. Come to think of it...had he actually opened his eyes? That would mean that his eyes had been closed, and he was feeling oddly refreshed...

And extremely warm... Hair was tickling Gaara's chin and he pulled away to look at the person currently sleeping on his chest. He took in the delicate features, the pale skin, and the mass of silver hair that was strewn all over his bed.

Oh yeah. How had he forgotten that? That's how he had slept. It's hard to have nightmares when you pass out after several rounds of rough, not to mention enjoyable, sex. The hand on his chest had a ring of bruises around the wrist and Gaara ran a finger gently over the discolored skin. Perhaps he should have been a little more gentle. Shio hadn't protested at the time, in fact the pain of Gaara's grip around his wrists had seemed to excite him, but Gaara was still feeling a twinge of guilt. Bite marks were scattered over Shio's neck and shoulders, and Gaara knew that they went down way farther than that. He had put them there, after all.

The sunlight was hitting Shio's face and his lashes fluttered before dark eyes opened. That's why Gaara hated sunlight. Shio's eyes focused on Gaara's face and the two stared at each other for a moment before Shio gasped and sat up.

"Holy fuck!" Only moments ago there had been little movement, and now the person next to him was in a flurry of motion as he untangled his legs from the blankets.

"Where the hell are my pants?!" Gaara stretched his sore muscles and laid back against the pillows, content to watch Shio stumble around in search of his clothing. Suddenly, Shio came to a stop and looked around in bewilderment.

"Where the hell am I?"

"My room."

"Oh...Okay..." Shio looked around the messy room one more time before he sighed. "Where are my clothes?"

"Living room."

"You left my clothes in the living room?!" Shio had a momentary bout of panic before he took a deep breath. This was not the worst thing that had ever happened. He could deal with this.

"Gaara?" Shio froze as someone knocked on the door.

"What?" Gaara snapped. It was Kankuro, of course. He was the only one in the damn house who knocked.

"Is there someone in there with you?"

"Television." There was a moment of silence before Kankuro spoke.

"...You don't have a television." Gaara was content to watch the naked Shio run around his room in search of clothing, but his brother just had to keep talking.

"Radio."

"You don't _have_ a radio." Gaara frowned. Damn. He _didn't_ have a radio. Why not? He deserved a radio, damnit!

"Talking to myself. Go away."

"Whatever. Breakfast is ready." Kankuro turned and stumbled back to the stairs. It was too early in the morning to be interrogating Gaara. The brat was just too damn annoying.

------------------

Kankuro Sabaku firmly believed that he was the sanest of the three Sand siblings. Firmly believed. And he had good reason to, mind you. Let's start with the root of the problem.

Gaara.

Yes, Gaara was the bane of his existence, the thorn in his side, the creature that hid under his bed until he thought it was safe and then launched out and bit his ankles. Well, Gaara stopped doing that when he was ten, but the fear never left. The red headed brat had damn sharp teeth.

However, when one problem dissolves, another has to manifest. Gaara left the cute-in-a-sad-creepy-way phase of his life and went straight to an angsty, self-centered, brat with people issues. _Serious_ people issues.

Despite everything, Gaara was Kankuro's little brother, and that meant that he had a certain amount or protectiveness buried in the back of his mind.

Which was why Kankuro was currently staring at the _extremely_ attractive blond man who was sitting across from him. Not only was the man gorgeous, but he was clad in Gaara's clothes and he had a suspicious mottling of bruises on his neck that looked like they were made by a certain pair of oddly sharp teeth. Was Kankuro going to ignore this? Absolutely not!

"This is Shio." Gaara said as he pushed Shio into his chair. "Make him breakfast."

"Whatever." Temari didn't even look up from the skillet. Kankuro made a face. The second reason why he considered himself the sanest of the sand siblings.

Temari.

The oldest of the three, and the only girl, although Kankuro sometimes wondered about the latter fact. It wasn't the fact that Temari never dated, besides the fact that she could have any man she wanted. Seriously, any man she wanted. Because if she didn't beat the crap out of him and drag him home, Gaara would go out, find him, threaten to shred his innards with a spork, and the man would show up on their doorstep with roses and candy. Yet, Temari almost never dated. Which was good news for the male population because it cut down on the number of hospital visits for them.

Why didn't Temari date? She always muttered something about men being stupid and overly ambitious. Kankuro said it was because she was ugly, which usually earned him a solid kick in the stomach.

That wasn't the main reason for her insanity, though. No. The main reason was her strange belief that Gaara could take care of himself. Physically, sure he could. But mentally?...

When Gaara turned three, Temari convinced their father to buy a sandbox for the backyard. The second Gaara was placed in it, he wouldn't leave. He started carrying sand around in a tiny gourd that appeared out of nowhere. That wasn't the worst. Whenever left alone, Gaara would steal of a few of Temari's dolls, cover them in sand, and pretend they were ninjas that he was crushing with the sand. He even stole the ketchup out of the fridge to use as blood. Yeah, the kid was messed up. And emotionally stunted.

So why was Temari not joining him in glaring at the new arrival who was probably taking advantage of Gaara's naive mind? Because the woman lacked the older sibling instinct!!! Their little brother had probably lost his virginity to this conniving man who only saw a pretty face and a nice ass! Not that Kankuro had ever taken an assessive look at his brother's rear, but the point was...pancakes!

Kankuro abandoned his suspicious train of thought in favor of the steaming pile of pancakes in front of him. He speared three with his fork and plopped them on his plate. Yes, pancakes. Pancakes were the reason they had butterknives and forks in the house. Because chopsticks and pancakes just didn't go together. Not at all.

Temari had finally turned around to look at Gaara's guest and her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. Shio's face remained blank, although he took a quick look around the room to make sure that there were no exits unaccounted for.

"...So you're the one!" Temari exclaimed as she slid into her seat. Shio eyed her with a politely puzzled expression.

"Pardon?" Temari's grin was positively evil.

"You're the one Gaara ordered those cookies for!" Shio's face reddened.

"Cookies...yeah...that's me..." Shio squeaked when Temari suddenly hauled him out of the chair by his collar and engulfed him in a hug. A very tight hug.

"I'm so grateful!" Temari sobbed into the top of his head. She was tall, alright!?

"Can't...breathe..."

"We thought Gaara was going to die a cranky, lonely, virgin old man with his sand and six cats!" Shio squirmed as much as he could in her tight grip. Damn, she was strong. The top of his head was now wet, not to mention his lungs were screaming for air.

"Temari..." Gaara glared at her over the rim of his mug. She let go of Shio, who took a large breath. Temari's cheeks were wet with happy tears and Gaara leaned away from her.

"My little brother finally got laid! I'm so proud!" She clasped her hands together and beamed at him.

"Are you crazy?!" Kankuro had finished his pancakes and was now glaring at Temari. She turned around to look at him.

"What?"

"Our baby brother is getting taken advantage of by Mr. Playboy over there and you're just standing there?!"

"I'm not a playboy." Shio muttered.

"Gaara's a big boy." Temari replied.

"Not big enough! Who knows what depraved fantasies this guy is gonna try?!" Shio huffed indignantly in response to Kankuro's question.

"You're one to talk! You play with dolls!"

"Puppets! They're puppets!" Temari snorted.

"Riiiigghhht...And I suppose that _purple_ makeup is normal, too?" She sneered. Kankuro's face was rapidly turning a lovely shade of red.

"It's Kabuki paint!"

"And here I was worried they'd think _me_ weird." Shio muttered under his breath.

There bickering was halted by Gaara slamming his mug down on the counter.

"Shio. We're leaving."

"Wha-?" Gaara grabbed Shio's arm and pulled him out of the kitchen. On the way out he grabbed Shio's shoes and shoved them into his arms. Temari and Kankuro's voices started up again as Gaara pulled shio out the front door.

"My puppets could kick your stupid fan's ass!"

-------------------

"So, Yuusuke, how are things?" Kurama asked as he took Yuusuke's bishop. Yuusuke shrugged and stared at the chess board.

"Same old." He muttered as he moved his pawn. Kurama opened his mouth to tell him that pawns couldn't move sideways, but he held back.

"How are things with Keiko." Yuusuke sighed and moved his rook. Kurama frowned. should he tell Yuusuke that it wasn't his turn?

"Things were great for a few hours yesterday." He moved again and Kurama's right hand twitched.

"She was all 'Oh Yuusuke! I missed you!' And shit like that." Yuusuke looked so miserable. Kurama didn't have the heart to tell him that he had skipped his turn three times.

"So that's good?" He asked. Yuusuke glared at the innocent pawn.

"It was. And she was hinting about making our relationship a little more serious. You know, announce that we're actually dating, maybe tell her parents. Instead of hiding me in the back of her closet."

"Sounds rough. Have you even kissed her, yet?"

"Tried once, got slapped."

"That happens a lot, doesn't it?" Kurama mused as he put Yuusuke into check.

"What does that mean?!"

"Shio smacked you, Keiko smacked you."

"Shio didn't smack me, he punched me. There is a difference."

"My mistake." Kurama moved his bishop. "Checkmate."

Yuusuke glared at the board and slumped back in his chair. "You suck."

"No, you suck." Kurama began picking up the pieces and placing them neatly in the box and Yuusuke sighed a looked around.

"Why are we here?" Kurama blinked.

"You're rather philosophical today, Yuusuke."

"What the hell does that mean?!"

"Well, you're asking why we're here and-."

"No! What the hell does that long word mean?" Kurama sighed. He should really hang out with smarter people.

"You're seeking enlightenment. You want to know why we exist." Yuusuke stared at him blankly for a moment before he shook his head.

"Nah, I just wanna know why we're hanging out in the park playing chess like old geezers." Kurama sat back, affronted.

"We are not old geezers." He said indignantly.

"We're only hanging out in a park with pidgeons with old people." Kurama opened his mouth to protest, but closed it. Okay, so there were a few pidgeons, and they were the only people there under fifty, but that didn't make them old, right?

"Are you calling me old?" Yuusuke shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back with a cocky smirk.

"You play chess for fun."

"And?"

"Well..." Yuusuke leaned forward and lowered his voice. "You do even...do it?"

A red eyebrow rose. "Pardon?"

"You know..._it_."

"Being vague does not make you sound any more intelligent, Yuusuke." Yuusuke looked around and lowered his voice even more.

"You know...masturbating." Green eyes instantly hardened and Yuusuke scooted his chair back enough to be out of reach.

"I'm a teenage guy, Yuusuke. Think about it." Yuusuke raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm just saying. Ya seem kinda wound up. Like you're not getting any."

"And you are?" Yuusuke flushed.

"I was closer than you." He mumbled. Kurama scoffed, because snorting was way too undignified for him, and pushed his chair back.

"Please, Shio went after you with a skillet." He said as he stood. Yuusuke grinned and hopped to his feet.

"But I still got to grab his ass!" Kurama grabbed Yuusuke's arm and pulled him away from the rather scandalized group of senior citizens who stared after them.

"Don't make me laugh." He snapped.

"Yeah? I bet you haven't grabbed shorty's ass, yet!" Yuusuke had to duck to avoid the fist aimed for his head.

"Why on earth would I want to do that?! Yuusuke!!!" Kurama took off after the other boy, who was running down the street and laughing madly.

"Kurama and shorty! Sittin' in a tree! F-U-C-K-I-N-G!!!" Yuusuke sang gleefully as he rounded the corner.

"I will kill you!!!" Kurama's enraged shriek made Yuusuke run a little faster. He _really_ didn't want to be caught.

------------------

Hiei was having a nice dream. A very nice dream. A wonderful dream filled with sugar plums, daisies, and most importantly...pastries.

"All hail Emperor Hiei! The King of the land of Pastries and Ice Cream!" Hiei raised a hand and directed a regal wave in their direction. His subjects cheered and sang his praises as he surveyed his new land. Yes, many great things would come from this land. Many things...but first...

"I need a sacrifice!" Silence swept over the crowd in a wave and they gazed at him with baited breath and adoring eyes.

"A sacrifice for Emperor Hiei! Bring forth the strawberry danish!!!" Cries of 'strawberry danish' rose from the crowd and slowly the sea of pastries parted for the red danish as he...it...whatever gender it was, made its way to the edge of Hiei's grand stage thing. He was considering renaming it. Stage sounded fruity.

"Eat the danish! Eat the danish!" Hiei raised a hand to silence the chant as the strawberry danish sank into a bow, its red hair spilling over its flaky shoulders. Wait...hair? Why the hell would a danish have hair? Hiei shrugged it off as a strange dream thing and raised the giant fork above his head. Oh yes, this danish would sacrifice its strawberry filling to start off his magnificant rule!

Hiei gasped and froze when the danish lifted its head a pair of green eyes looked up at him. The wonderful flaky crust was quickly smoothing into a familiar face and body. A body that was covered in strategically placed vanilla icing...

"What the fuck?!" Hiei dropped the fork and stumbled back away from the evil, disturbing, and oddly appealing sight. A smile curved Kurama's lips and he rose to his feet.

"Don't you want to lick the icing off?" He purred as he took a step towards Hiei.

"Wait!...No!" Hiei tried to scramble away from the advancing redhead, but found that he couldn't move. His limbs were stuck in chocolate syrup that was slowly inching its way up to his chest! No!

"Please! Wait! Not like this!!!"

"Don't worry, Emperor. You'll like my icing."

"Noooo!!!! I...I...I DON'T LIKE VANILLA!!!"

With a terrified gasp, Hiei shot up off the bean bag chair and looked around the room wildly. No Kurama. No syrup...no pastry land...Just a certain miffed tarantula who had crawled halfway up his wall and was staring at him in annoyance.

"Holy fuck!!! SHHHIIIIIOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

----------------

Gaara had decided that he disliked pants. And buttons. And meddling hands. Especially meddling hands...

"Get your damn hands outta my fucking pants, you whore!!!" Gaara's non-existent eyebrow twitched.

"I should wash your mouth out with soap." He threatened as Shio tried in vain to yank Gaara's hand out of the front of his jeans.

"Go ahead! After what's been in it, I'd like a little soap!" Gaara mentally crowed in delight as he finally undid the top button of Shio's pants. He ignored the indignant squawk as he slid his hands along smooth skin. So what if it had been only six hours? He wanted sex and he wanted it right then and there. Screw their customers.

However, fate was not smiling apon Gaara today. First he had to fulfill his promise to Temari about running the shop, then Shio decided to play hard to get, and now he heard a familiar ringtone in his back pocket.

"_Hey Mr. Wonderful! Oh, you're so incredible! Hey, Mr. Wonderful!"_ Shio was momentarily perplexed when he heard his cell phone ringing.

"My cell phone?" How could he be hearing his cell phone? The thing had disappeared a few days ago... Wait... He turned around in Gaara's arms so he could see the redhead's face.

"Is my cell phone in your pocket?" When Gaara gave him a flat stare, he glared at him and slid his hand into Gaara's back pocket. How the hell had he missed that?

"You took my cell phone!" He put his free hand on Gaara's chest and shoved. The redhead stumbled back only slightly and scowled as Shio put the phone to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"SHIOISTHATYOU?IHADTHEMOSTHORRIBLENIGHTMAREHELPMEPLEASE-" Shio jerked the phone away from his ear. Gaara could easily hear Hiei's frantic screaming. He couldn't tell what he was saying, of course, but could certainly hear him.

"Hiei! What the hell are you saying? Slow down and be quiet!!!" Hiei fell silent at the other end of the line, before he started up again in a slightly more agreeable tone.

Gaara sighed and leaned against the counter. The only customer, Mrs. Yukio, was still gazing forlonly at the cakes, as she did every time she came in. Although she usually left by nine. The old bat was probably hoping for another show, she had been watching the entire time. Gaara shuddered and vowed to find a more secluded spot to molest Shio next time. Getting watched by creepy old ladies was **not** a turn-on.

"You what? Icing? All over him?" The sentence floated past his ears and Gaara looked at Shio, who had a shocked look on his face.

_Icing? _Okay, Gaara **had** to know what Hiei was saying. It sounded too good to resist. He ignored Shio's wanring look and pushed away from the counter. It only took a few steps to close the distance and he placed a hand on each side of Shio's body and leaned in to put his ear next to the phone. Not only could he hear what Hiei was saying, but he was making Shio extremely uncomfortable. Two birds with one stone.

-----------------

Hiei gripped the phone with a trembling hand as he told Shio about his dream. Luckily, he had caught Shio in a listening mood, so he had yet to make a perverted comment. Maybe he couldn't think of any perverted ones? How much perversion can you get out of vanilla icing?

"...And now I'm hungry and all we have is a jar of olives!!!" Hiei wailed and he glared at said jar of olives. Not only were they olives, but they were olives that were six months past their expiration date.

"_Okay, you just stay there. Don't do anything stupid, don't eat the olives, and could you feed Scott for me?"_ Hiei looked over his shoulder at the tarantula who had somehow followed him all the way to the kitchen.

"He ate a cricket earlier. You know the really irritating one that we couldn't catch?"

"_He caught the little bastard! Awesome! Give him a pat on the head for me!"_

"Er..." Hiei eyed the tarantula for a moment and tried to figure out exactly where his head was. All he saw was huge fangs. Yeah...He could live without the pat.

"_And I'm at the bakery, what do you want?"_ Hiei thought about it for a second before he answered.

"A lot of stawberry danishes, and where's that giant fork?"

"_The giant fork of doom?"_

"Yeah."

"_I hid in my closet after the incident with the neighbor's dog. You remember that, __**don't**__ you?"_ Hiei winced as Shio's tone turned dark. Oh yeah. **That** incident.

"That dog was really annoying..." He muttered weakly.

"_Well, it's in my closet. Leave the black box __**alone**__." _Hiei rolled his eyes. As if he wanted to look through Shio's porn stash. He had stumbled apon it a few years ago and had no desire to look through it again. Too tramatizing.

"_Is Yukina home?"_

"Yeah."

"_Tell her I'll get a few eclaires for her, okay?"_

"I'll tell her."

"_Right...and Hiei?"_

"_Was Kurama wearing __**only**__ vanilla icing_?" Hiei flushed and slammed the phone down onto the reciever. Trust Shio to somehow get some kind of suggestive comment in there.

--------------------

"Honey! I'm home!" Shio pushed the front door open and kicked his shoes off. He was carrying a large white box and Yukina smiled and held out her arms to take it. Gaara shut the door with his foot and followed Yukina to the kitchen with his own box.

"Where's Hiei?" Shio looked around for the boy who should have already been digging through the boxes, but he had yet to appear. Yukina poked her head out of the kitchen.

"He's in his room. I think he's playing a video game."

"Ah. Okay, I'll get him." He took the stairs two at a time and paused by the hallway mirror to make sure that the bite marks on his neck were properly covered. Wouldn't it be wonderful to explain that to his already traumatized ward?

"_K.O.! Player two wins!"_

"Damn you!" Shio pushed open the door to Hiei's frustrated yell. One of the Soul Caliber characters laughed and twirled her twin swords.

"Hey Hiei, I got the..." Shio trailed off when he saw exactly who Hiei had lost to. Scott was sprawled across the second controller and held an undeniable aura of smugness. A glance at the score only further mystified him.

"You're losing to a tarantula?" Hiei broke out of his angry tantrum and squeaked when he saw Shio in the doorway.

"I-It's not what it looks like!!! I-I was just playing and he-Really!" A silver eyebrow rose when Hiei's frantic sputtering continued and Scott crawled off the controller and started up Shio's pant leg.

"Poor, poor Hiei. Losing to Scott. This dream really **did** rattle you!" Scott stopped on Shio's shoulder and stared down at Hiei with a superior look.

"We have your strawberry danishes." Hiei's face instantly lit up and he leapt to his feet and snatched up the two foot long giant fork from beside his pillow. Shio wisely stepped out of the way as Hiei barrelled past him.

"Why the hell does he need that?" He wondered.

----------------

Gaara had just settled down to enjoy his cranberry scone and Yukina was delicately eating an eclair. They were only waiting for Hiei's appearance and Shio's return. Gaara especially wanted to watch Shio eat. The man had a way of licking his lips that Gaara thoroughly enjoyed.

"Oh! Hiei! What-?!" Yukina's greeting was cut off when Hiei snatched a danish out of the box, placed it on the counter, and lifted an extremely large fork over his head.

"I **will** have my sacrifice, damnit!" He then proceeded to stab the poor danish with the fork. This was repeated several times, during which Yukina rushed out of the room, probably to get Shio. Gaara was content to watch Hiei take out his anger on the pastry. He wasn't exactly sure why Hiei was attacking a strawberry danish, but as long as he didn't go after his cranberry scone, Gaara couldn't care less.

"What the hell are you doing, brat?!" Hiei growled as his fork was wrenched out of his hands. The danish was almost dead!!!

"Give that back!" He shrieked as he tried to get the fork. Unfortunately for him, Shio had at least a few inches more and was able to hold it out of his reach.

"Why?!"

"I must kill him! Kurama must die! He will pay for covering his naked body in vanilla icing and asking me to lick it off!!! He will pay!!!"

There was a stunned silence in the room. Yukina was busy choking on her own blush, Shio was trying to get the image out of his head, and Gaara? Well, Gaara was chewing. You don't talk with your mouth full. It's rude.

---------------

Somewhere far away, Kurama sneezed.

"Someone's talking about you!" Yuusuke said. Kurama glared at him and reached across the table to poke a bruise.

"Ow! Damnit! Stop that!" The redhead smirked and went back to studying his side of the board. Yuusuke sighed as he looked down at the chess pieces. He was playing chess. Again. With a sadistic redhead who threatened to add more bruises if he complained.

Life was so not fair.

TBC...

-------------------

Finally, after over a month I have updated! I am without spellcheck at the moment, so please forgive any mistakes. I know there is a lot of Shio in here, but I'm trying to make Gaara a little more of a main character in this, and Shio just happens to be with him. Besides, it's for plot development. I have been without inspiration for a while, and then I went on a 3 day writing spree. And then the computer threatened with hardrive failure and I was terrified at the prospect of losing all my work. But I have put all my stuff on my jump drive and everything is safe! And the computer works! Life is good! I am also obsessed with an anime at the moment. Tokyo Mew Mew!!! I love it so much! Kisshu is the most awesome character!!! Don't watch the english dub, they mangled the anime. A few years ago I would have been too ashamed to admit that I watched this, but not anymore!!! I play Resident Evil and watch cutesy anime!!!

TBC...

Please review, and no flames. In case anyone gets any ideas, I am fairly certain that tarantulas would not do well on Soul Caliber 3. Scott has never expressed an interest in video games. She usually hangs out on my shoulder while I play. And if a tarantula is expressing ill will towards a guest, it's best to put the tarantula back in its tank.


End file.
